


Complications

by The_Plot_Thinens



Series: Complicated [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU universe, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Human Nature, Marriage, Married Life, Romance, Space Opera, married
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 193,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plot_Thinens/pseuds/The_Plot_Thinens
Summary: The Sequel of Complicated. A pregnant Rose Tyler Smith and The Doctor are finally back together after the ordeal on the Game Station. But now that The Doctor suddenly has a new body, can Rose accept this new Doctor as the same man she married? What does this mean for their marriage and the child that Rose is still carrying. A Retelling of Doctor Who season 2 with complications.
Relationships: Jackie Tyler/Pete Tyler, John Smith/ Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor | John Smith/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Complicated [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1032374
Comments: 140
Kudos: 113





	1. Who are you?

Complications  
By The-Plot-Thinens  
Chapter 01 - Who are you?

He was moving around the console, whoever he was. Rose hid herself slightly behind one of the coral struts and hugged it as if it where her lifeline. She could not understand what had happened. Rose looked at the brown haired man with uncertainty as to who they were. Then she caught a glance at something golden and looked at his hand. This man was wearing John's wedding ring! The one she had placed on John's finger that The Doctor had stopped wearing practically the second he changed back into a Time Lord. Rose was feeling a whole host of emotions bubbling to the surface as this man mucked about with the TARDIS, their TARDIS! She felt confusion and fear as to who this stranger was and the damage they had or could do. She felt the pain and sadness that came with being reminded that The Doctor had stopped wearing the symbol of their bonding. And lastly anger, with a double serving of outrage. was starting to flicker to life that this stranger was wearing her John's wedding ring. How dare they, where had they got it from? She wanted to rage at them but she was still too afraid as to what this person would do to her or what they could do or had already done with The Doctor. She was worried that enraging them might put The Doctor in more danger.

The brown haired man dashed to the console and flicked a few switches and checked the monitor. He was very involved in his task and did not seem to notice or care that Rose had just gone through the traumatic experience of watching her husband burn up and explode in a fiery ball of something. Rose had to fight back a hyperventilating breath as her mind still struggled to make sense of what just happened. She wanted to express some form of emotion but there were so many she couldn't decide which first, so she just watched the odd man instead.  
“6 PM... Tuesday..." Said the man as Rose continued to watch while still half concealed by the coral pillar she clung to. The man turned a knob setting the time and date of the week and now it was onto the year and month.  
"October... 5006... on the way to Barcelona!" Smirked the man as he straightened up and faced Rose, feeling quite proud of himself. He was grinning and couldn't wait to show his wife the honeymoon location he had picked. He had been given more time to spend with Rose thanks to her brave and crazily mad rescue. He knew that Rose deserved a reward for saving him and he was going to give her everything that she deserved and he had denied her for over half a year. They would make new memories as his new self because thankful, even though he had changed, he was relieved to find that he still loved Rose with all his hearts and wanted to be with her and their child. They were still the center of his world! Good, he was worried the change might have had a negative impact on his emotions. He would worship her like a goddess for as long as they had left together. His brain had no desire to think of or acknowledge her mortality or the likely mortality of their offspring. It would only stop him from what happiness he stood to have with his family. There was only one thing left, finding out what he looked like so that he would recognize himself in pictures and any mirror they happened on. As dreadful as this event usually was it could also be fun when he was adjusting to the new him. It was like getting a new surprise suit and trying it on for size. He had been trying to think only of Rose so he hoped that whatever he looked like was at least a bit more handsome than his last form. 'Oh, there was Rose,' He thought as he finally caught a glance of her tucked away and staring at him. And didn't she look just as interested as he was with his new form?  
“Now then... what do I look like?" Asked the man of Rose, but he was too excited to give her a chance to reply before holding up a hand to silence her. Rose looked startled by the man but the man still engrossed in the new him declared,  
“No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me." Rose looked completely beside herself on what to do, should she just keep watching to see what happens? The man started talking again and Rose focused back on him again, wary of any rapid movement he made, and he made a lot.  
"Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands... Smaller nose, thank Rassilon…ears, ehh, well it's all relative." Said the man as he tweaked his ears and then tested his wrist and continued,  
"Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." He then placed his hands on his head and realized that he no longer had cropped hair and that it was in steady supply.  
"HAIR! I'm not bald!" He cheered thinking that Rose would like that, it meant he might be a bit younger looking. 'Good, we might not get odd stares at the chippy anymore,' thought the man as he ran his hands through his hair. He preened and puffed out his chest to strut a bit. Rose did not look happy, the man did not notice, but continued to run his hands through his hair gleefully and felt the hair along the sides of his face.  
"Oh - Oh! Big hair! Sideburns - I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin." The man then placed his hands over his body and noted that he wasn't as built as he used to be. Hopefully Rose wouldn't mind, he had very specific memories of Rose's fondness for his last body. But he could compensate for that in other ways. He felt tons of energy in this new body and that would have to make up for less of a frame for her to cling to, he thought saucily.  
"Little bit thinner..." He said as he slapped his stomach and then noted,  
"That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." Then as he shifted his weight he realized that something was extra on his skin he did not notice before! And with the air of someone making a most wonderful discovery, he announced to Rose,  
"I... have got... a mole. I can feel it." Rose started breathing heavily. The man's comment was making her scared and she didn't know what this man would do next. The way he just spoke made her very uncomfortable, like something scary in an alley way at night uncomfortable. Who was this crazy person and would they hurt her too, like they might have done to The Doctor?

Unfortunately the man seemed to continue not to notice Rose's plight and persisted in unknowingly freaking Rose the hell out as he rotated his shoulder blades.  
"…Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right. Love the mole." Grinned The Doctor, he was 100 percent pleased with himself and didn't see how Rose would be anything else than pleased. You never know what you will get but he bet Rose would have nothing to complain about him in looks. He then finally turned his attention to Rose, which surprised her. Seeking her approval which he had no doubt that he would receive, he asked with a grin,  
"Go on then, tell me. Tell me how fit I am." Still sure she would be pleased he stood straight up before Rose, ready for assessment. Which he was sure would be positive even with his hair all ruffled.  
"What do you think?" Smiled the man. He was finding that this body was quite optimistic and surely Rose was going to love the changes, how could she not? It's me, after all.  
"Who are you? Asked Rose, more quietly and timidly than she probably wanted to sound in front of this stranger. 'Ohhh…' Thought The Doctor who seemed crestfallen, and slightly surprised at her remark. He had a panicked moment where he feared what was going to happen next, but optimism and survival mechanisms tamped down that fear. Trying to make her see the obvious was priority to any fears.  
"I'm The Doctor. Your…" He held up his left hand and wriggled his fingers showing off the ring. This was no time for silliness, he was alive they should be celebrating. Perhaps The Doctor, in his regenerative haze had forgotten that unlike Time Lords, human identification was based on mostly visual and vocal aid. Rose could not sense the mind of a fellow Time Lord and identify them that way, no matter their form, like a Time Lord could. This was why it came as such a hard emotional blow to him when he saw Rose's reaction. He was then reminded of every time a companion had left him and began to fear.  
Rose shook her head, not believing him and corrected the stranger,  
"No... Where is he? Where's The Doctor?" Where was the man that she loved? Who was this person really? Where is her lover that she had been setting herself up just moments ago to snog the life out of, grab by his big ears and then take on the jump seat like it was their last night alive? There were too many questions and how dare this person call themselves The Doctor when he clearly was not? He didn't look a thing like him and she wanted her Doctor back! She wanted her mate and father of her child right now and in a voice steadily rising she interrogated,  
"What have you done to him?" The Doctor was almost speechless at the rejection and needed, more than the air he breathed, to convince her that she was not being tricked and he was who he said he was. He just needed to explain things and make her see sense. It was very simple and he reminded her in a vulnerable voice,  
"You saw me, I- I changed..." as he indicated over his shoulder to the spot where he regenerated as a visual aid.  
"... Right in front of you." He finished in a voice hinted with insecurity.  
'This is ridiculous' thought Rose. She might be a lower evolved human, but she had seen many things in her travels and she was not going to be fooled. She was not a naïve little girl and she was not going to be tricked by some alien who thought that he could pull a fast one on her. Whoever this person claimed to be, they were most certainly not The Doctor and they had done something with him! They had stolen his clothing and now they were trying to replace him for who knew what reason! Well whatever that reason was, it was most likely to do evil. Did they really think that just wearing his clothing would fool her? She had to save the day, The Doctor, and the TARDIS from this invader. She vowed that she would have her Doctor back in her arms and rescue him yet again... from... this interloping thing that had... What had she seen by the way? She thought back to a few moments ago when she witnessed what looked like her husband burning to death and said,  
"I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something. And now you're wearin' his ring. Where'd you even get that? I haven't seen it in months and The Doctor never wore it!" The last part sounding outraged and indignant. 'Right,' thought The Doctor embarrassed by his idea earlier that this would be an easy transition. His wife was a human and this was a new concept that would be even harder to explain than he had wagered. Humans did not usually like sudden changes as a rule and needed warning to prepare. And he had just started wearing the ring again out of nowhere, of course she would be suspicious of it on a 'stranger's' finger. What a pity if she had seen the ring on the old him's finger she probably would have been thrilled about it. Now it just seemed to be hurting and or teasing her by seeing it. Not exactly the reception he had been hoping for, but he had not been planning on living when he put it on, let alone Rose ever getting a chance to see it on him again. This added another level of trouble since wearing it had been so against his behavior. He wished things had not been so busy and fast before or she might have had time to notice the ring on him earlier, before he 'exploded'. The Doctor had hoped that this would go off without a hitch, but now he knew he had been too optimistic. Rose would of course naturally be loyal and faithful to the previous him and find it hard to just abandon the memory of the old him for the new him right away.  
Rose did not believe that he was who he said he was, and she approached The Doctor as she gained confidence born of the fury of being denied her mate and friend. He did not interject; he was worried that any sudden movements would only upset his poor Rose more. He seemed lost for words. Rose took a few steps closer towards him and at arm's length; she pushed him in the chest.  
"You're not fooling me." Glared Rose at the man she did not know, but she was obviously looking more vulnerable by the second as her fears began to pile up. The Doctor rocked back on his heels from Rose's push and just looked at her. Despite his earlier logic he still could not believe what he was hearing. Surely Rose would be able to put the pieces together and recognize him, even in one of his favorite Disney films, the girl had come to recognize her prince in just a few moments. And that had been a far greater transformation than he had just gone through in his opinion. But that was a fairytale, wasn't it? This was real life. He realized that he had changed and that alone would be hard to process, but he had hoped that his own wife would at least know that it was him, no matter what. This of course was an unrealistic expectation of Rose, but it still hurt The Doctor to be rejected by his wife based on his appearance alone. It wasn't like he usually got a say in how he looked, but he was still him, still the same man.  
"I've seen all sorts of things. Nano genes... Gelth..." Explained Rose to the person she assumed was trying to pull a fast one on her. How dare he assume that the little human from the Level 5 planet would not notice that her husband had been swapped out with a pretender! And the ring was a nice touch to play on her sentiments, but she wasn't buying.  
"Slitheen..." She said darkly as she took a step closer. That was the silliest thing that The Doctor had heard all day. And he raised his eyebrows at her as if to question 'Really?' However his jester was misread and in a panicked voice that she had nailed it on the head asked,  
"Oh, my God, are you a Slitheen?" That would mean horrors for Rose because not only did that mean that her husband was dead but was having his skin worn by a monster! A monster that could kill and eat her and her child! And those aliens always had bright lights about them when they changed out of their suits. 'Was that what she had seen? Was that how they took over a body or whatever they did?' panicked Rose. Calmly, so as not to upset Rose any further The Doctor firmly declared,  
"I'm not a Slitheen." Rose was now just being ridiculous. He was even thinner than he used to be now, even a baby Raxacoricofallapatorian would never fit in him. Rose was not taking any crap, she knew he was lying, even if he wasn't a Slitheen he was something and not The Doctor. She wanted her Doctor back and in a voice that rose to a shout demanded,  
"Send him back. I'm warning you, send The Doctor back to me right now!" Under other circumstances he would have been touched by this devotion and loyalty in Rose, but this was getting out of hand. He needed Rose desperately to understand what was going on and that he was who he said he was. He couldn't lose her to this, not after he just got her back and defied death to be with her and their child. Pleadingly The Doctor entreated,  
"Rose, it's me. Honestly, it's me. It's old big ears me, can't you tell?", as he leaned forward in his urgency to make her believe him. Rose stared at him, her chest rising and falling very fast from the exertion of her shouting. It couldn't be, what he was implying was impossible and she wanted her handsome Time Lord back. Sure this guy was easy on the eyes too but she wanted the man that at least looked like the man she fell in love with and then fell in love with again. In a gentle voice The Doctor conveyed the critical information that would determine, based on Rose's reception, where their relationship went from here. The fear that she would never come to accept him was becoming very real now.  
"I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me." Rose didn't know what to think. She knew The Doctor said that he was dying and if what this man said was true then The Doctor was standing in front of her with a new face and even all new cells. If what he said was true then the man she knew and loved was gone. Or was he, was it just that he was gone and this he was here now? Oh, this was a headache to get one's mind around. Not knowing what else to do or believe Rose looked at him with the most timid and vulnerable face as she whispered,  
"You can't be." The Doctor could see that his words were starting to get a little through to her, but there was still some denial and he needed to drive the point home that he was who he said he was. The Doctor took a few steps closer to his wife and looking straight down into her eyes, he asked solemnly,  
"Then how could I remember this? As a human, I saved your life with a cricket ball and the word I said to you when you were trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies... oh..." He looked away for a moment, reminiscing and lost in the memories of all the times they had spent together. Then he looked back into her eyes lovingly and with such devotion,  
"... Such a long time ago. I took your hand..." And to emphasize this point, he took his wife's hand just like he did when he had saved her from the plastic dummies. Rose glanced briefly down at their joint hands, both wearing a ring, and how despite the unfamiliarity, how familiar it felt. She then looked back up into the man's face who claimed he was The Doctor.  
"I said one word... just one word, I said... 'Run'." He said as he gazed at her. Rose looks into his eyes, her own full of tears. That was the word that she had heard and heard all the time from him. That was the word that only the two of them would know when it was first used. This man somehow and against all of her logic was most likely her husband, The…  
"Doctor." She asked the man in disbelief with a searching look on her face. Her eyes darting to the ring and then back to his face. She was looking for a resemblance in the seemingly ancient eyes that this younger man was looking at her with. Were they the same? Maybe... she didn't know... she wasn't thinking clearly. She just needed time to process. She was trying to see her blue eyed hero somewhere in that big haired, brown eyed body he was now claiming to be inside. His mannerisms were just so different now. Happy that it looked like she was finally getting it and coming around to the fact that he was who he said he was, The Doctor grinned and replied with a simple and heartwarming voice,  
"Hello." Rose sighed in an almost exasperated fashion as she stumbled backwards. The full impact of what had just happened finally hit her, it was just so hard to believe. This was as alien as it got, and Rose didn't know where to bring her thoughts first as she pondered what this meant and implied about her future. The Doctor was in there, she thought, but was a completely different looking man. It was a good thing that they lived in the TARDIS now, what would people say if they saw a different man living in their house at the university. Why was she thinking of something that stupid now? She had other concerns than what the neighbors thought. How could he do this to them, and if he had to why couldn't he have at least warned her that this was a possibility. Well maybe that was too harsh, no one usually knew when they were going to be fatally wounded… But she was fast realizing how little information that The Doctor ever entrusted to her. She knew more about his fake and manufactured life as John than she did about The Doctor's real life or nature. That realization hurt her. Maybe this was appropriate, since he was, in every bit a virtual stranger to her, then maybe he should look like a stranger from John too. What would it have been like for them if he had done something like this the second he had gone back to being The Doctor? Would she have followed him then? Would she have thought John was truly dead? All of this was circling in her head as her brain fought between the idea of accepting this was The Doctor and flat out denying it. The Doctor didn't give her time to react or rather time to see her reaction to that bit of news. Perhaps The Doctor wanting to give Rose a little air to breathe took off around the other side of the console and began fiddling with it. No time to think about the glaringly obvious problem they had to face, they should be off into the next adventure right away! Before Rose realized that she could and probably might want to leave.  
"And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running…One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." Asked The Doctor as he finished with the console controls and began to hop on one leg. He hopped madly up and down on the spot, he was excited but Rose clearly was not. Just confused on how to feel. Her husband was dead and not dead. Unlike The Doctor, Rose was clearly not in a partying mood. Rose just leaned her back against a coral pillar for support as she watched him move about. She needed air and she really wanted her leather clad Doctor with the cropped hair to magically appear and hug her.  
"Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?! Hop? With the..." Cheered The Doctor, but his wild enthusiasm ebbed from his voice at Rose's lack of reaction. This very quickly put the wind out of his sail and he settled down. His hopping subsided too.  
"... No?" questioned The Doctor meekly.  
"Can you change back?" asked Rose very carefully with her heart in her throat and in a scared voice. She loved The Doctor but this was a big surprise. Even bigger than when he had turned into a Time Lord. At least then he still looked the same. Now all she wanted was her familiar Doctor back, if it could be managed. She didn't know if she could handle things otherwise. She might fall apart already thanks to the situation. She needed to see her blue eyed man again, how could she lose him twice? He couldn't leave her and the baby… and change, even more so than the last time, again! Could he at least have warned her that this could happen?

"Do you want me to?" Asked The Doctor in an insecure voice, wanting to calm and put her heart at ease.  
"Yeah." Said Rose a bit too quickly to not hurt The Doctor's feelings. She just wanted things back to 'normal'. Well as normal as they ever were. She was just so scared and confused. She had never been told to expect this sort of thing to happen, she parroted in her head again. The Doctor had never mentioned it to her even in passing. So understandably she was acting on instinct to protect her mind from the unlikely, and unexpected, event of not only the 'death' of her husband, but the 'rebirth' of him as well.  
"Oh." Answered The Doctor a little hurt and disappointed that he wasn't good enough as he was. He had naively hoped that she would like the new him, but again humans couldn't read minds like Time Lords. All the Time Lord cared about was the mind. The casing was irrelevant. No more a dramatic thing than putting on a new suit. 'Guess we really did love each other for our minds.' Mused The Doctor. But it wasn't about him it was about Rose and making her comfortable, he had to do what he could to put his human bride at ease.  
"Can you?" Asked Rose with hope and vulnerability in her voice. Perhaps The Doctor could pull through and put himself back in the proper order. The Doctor could do anything. Surely, he could bring back the body with the blue eyes that she knew, loved, and had made love to. The Doctor saw and heard the hope in her being and he desperately wanted to please his distressed wife. He wanted her smile back so they could get on to the business of traveling through time and space together…and making plans for the little one. Who still needed a checkup.  
The Doctor tried to do just that, put himself back to the way he was. He looked about in his mind and body for a means to accomplish what his love wanted him to do. He in the course of seconds, checked half a million times and found no way to get his old big ears body back. Female Time Ladies had always seemed to have more control over how they looked after regeneration, but he had never seen one of them change back to an old form. That was a bit like putting on a worn out old dress and they had never wanted to do that. Where was the fun?  
"No." The Time Lord had to admit to Rose. At this news Rose despaired now that she knew she would never see her big eared hero again. She was an emotional train wreck, she lost her husband twice now and she didn't know what to expect from his supposed replacement.  
The Doctor was very disappointed when he realized this. He had never really thought about changing back or trying to in the past, he had never really wanted to. It was always fun getting a new body to try out. Well a few times it had been scary but for the most part he usually liked the results once he got use to them. He glanced briefly down at the floor. Very depressing thoughts began to circulate in his head. She didn't want him this way. She wanted the old him and to change back, which he couldn't do for her. It was beyond his power to do so in order to make her happy. That body was burned up and gone and that was the one she was longing for, whatever he looked like it obviously wasn't what she wanted to see. And this personality as she had seen it now was not what she wanted either. With heavy hearts he asked her the most painful question. He didn't want to ask it but for her sake and happiness he wanted to get it out of the way, since this him was probably only upsetting her more just by standing there. In her Doctor's clothes and wearing her husband's wedding ring. In his place where she wished another man was.  
"Do you want to leave?" He asked quickly and too scared to hear the answer.  
"Do you want me to leave?" Asked Rose shocked and a bit hurt that he might want her to leave now that he had changed again. Maybe now that he had changed she wasn't good enough for him. Maybe her struggle to accept him was too tasking for him… What was going to happen to the baby now? She was confused but her instincts were telling her do not leave the TARDIS. The TARDIS might have also been giving her some comforting vibes, though a bit diminished since she had been through a big ordeal too and was currently navigating through time and space.  
"No! But... your choice... if you want to go home to Mum..." Assured The Doctor very quickly, he didn't want her to get the wrong idea. He in no way wanted her to leave. He wanted Rose to stay but he didn't want her to be trapped or feel like she was being held captive by a stranger. He wanted this transition to be as easy as possible for her. And above all he wanted her to, in the end, decide to stay with him and continue on loving him. As he wanted to continue loving her.  
Rose still looked upset at the mention of home. It was like she didn't know what to feel or think. She was conflicted she wanted to stay on the TARDIS with The Doctor, but she was still feeling like she should be asking herself, where was he? Even though he was supposedly right in front of her. The Doctor didn't want to distress his wife any further. It didn't do him any good to see her so upset, it didn't do her any good to be upset and it certainly didn't do the baby any good. Resolutely he turned to the console and began to reverse direction of the TARDIS. The Doctor ultimately determined that Rose probably was no longer in the honeymooning mood. Which was understandable since she was still looking at him like he was a stranger. 'No one wants to honeymoon with a stranger.' Thought The Doctor with pain that Rose no longer recognized him or at least was struggling to. What if they were never the same again? This must have been how Rose felt with him when he first changed. You don't know what to expect or hope for. What if Rose never wanted to hold hands again, or kiss, or do other married things with him again? He had been starting to warm up to that idea of doing married things. What if they could no longer raise their daughter together like he had hoped for before he had changed? 'Poor Rose, this must be devastating. To her it must have been like replacing your husband with another man…which I sort of did…maybe…it was complicated.' Pondered The Doctor as he gazed at his Rose still floundering at the situation. Anyway, Rose needed familiarity now and as much as he 'loved' checking in on Jackie, he knew that Rose needed her mother now more than anything at this moment…even him.  
"Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London... the Powell Estate... ah... let's say the 24th of December." Said The Doctor softly as Rose quietly approached him, he then looked at her and timidly smiled,  
"Consider it a Christmas present." Rose continued to edge slowly closer to the console as The Doctor put in the last coordinates. He had all the sadness and insecurities of a wet puppy in the rain.  
"There." He announced to the room quietly. He then stepped back, his arms crossed and tucked in an almost defensive manner. He was trying to protect himself from something. Was it his own emotions that wanted to cry for Rose to accept him? Was it the fear that things would never be the same again? Would this interfere in him being able to help raise his child, well technically his last body's child, but it was still all his. And he loved it and wanted to be there for it. Or was the real reason that he was bracing himself was for his fear that as soon as the TARDIS landed that Rose would bolt out of the TARDIS and never come back? Would he have to chase after her? Beg her to give them another chance to see if she could eventually come to love him as he was now, with whatever new quirks he had? Would she want him to chase after her? Maybe she might need some air but she might still want to talk…but what if she didn't? Well they were going to find out soon enough, the TARDIS was on her way. Rose looked at him, then back at the console. The TARDIS shuddered as it changed direction.  
"I'm going home to Mum?" Asked Rose in an unsure voice. Was he sending her home now? Was this goodbye? These thoughts flashed across her mind, but then The Doctor started talking again. The Doctor finished the coordinates and crossed his arms. He felt like he wanted to cry from just the thought of what was possibly and most likely to follow. If only they could have read each other thoughts, they would have realized just how much their fears were on the same page.  
"Up to you. Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast- no, Christmas! Turkey! Although... having met your mother... nut loaf would be more appropriate." Joked The Doctor, keeping the mood light and holding himself with his arms. He was afraid of what was to come. Completely terrified. Rose was going to leave him, just step out of those doors and they would then part ways forever. The same poisonous and insecure thoughts kept circling in his large mind. What if she didn't want him to be around the baby? What if this was it? He hid the hurt inside him as best as he could, he had to put his own feelings aside for whatever made Rose happiest. This was the curse of regenerating, some humans could not take it and would simply leave him. Oh, he prayed to whatever would listen that she would stay with him. He could not lose Rose, not like this. He loved her and their baby too much to lose them just because he was forced to change when he didn't want to. He needed to make a connection with Rose, like they used to, a link to the past and his past self that they could latch on to. He saw a hint of hope when his last comment about her mother had made Rose divert her eye down quickly, to hide a smile. 'Got ya, made ya laugh! Time for some of the old Doctor and Rose cheerful banter, maybe see if an innuendo can't be slipped in too.' cheered The Doctor to himself as he asked with a lopsided grin,  
"Was that a smile?" Rose, like it or not, was still more in the mindset to reject and not connect or interact with this 'new Doctor' like she had with the old one. It was a defense mechanism against the sudden change, but she had to acknowledge to herself that in spite of the situation, that had been a funny and very Doctory comment about her mother. Stubbornly and dismissively she answered the negative. The Doctor was having none of it now that humor was helping to save their connection to each other and he knowingly stated,

"That was a smile..." Rose still not wanting to admit that the mood and attitude towards the two of them was changing, she denied again that she had smiled.

"You smiled..." Smirked The Doctor teasingly. He would have her see that they could still go along as they always did.

"No I didn't." Said Rose again with a guarded expression on her face. She just wasn't ready to accept the situation yet which also meant accepting that her blue-eyed northern sounding Doctor was gone forever. The Doctor was now getting a little impatient for Rose to put the pieces together, despite his decision to be patient. He was who he claimed he was. And she was just being stubborn now in his eyes, forgetting for a moment how odd this all was for a human, he almost whined,

"Oh, come on, all I did was change, I didn't—" but he could say no more. He suddenly gagged as the TARDIS began to shudder. Rose looked at him questioningly, she knew that her thoughts were distracted but she had not caught that last bit. It had sounded like gobbledygook.

"What?" Questioned Rose for clarity, the last thing she needed now was a communication error with this man. She was having enough of them as it was. The Doctor didn't know what that was before either. Must have been a fluke. More clearly he tried to say,  
"I said I didn't—," only for the same thing happen again, but this time more violently.

The Doctor started to make a nasty retching noise and he was becoming increasingly worried. This could only mean one thing and he had hoped to avoid it or at least hold off something like this for a bit longer. At least long enough so that Rose wouldn't be left feeling alone, confused, and completely scared out of her mind at him or for him.

"Uh oh." Groaned The Doctor as Rose edged cautiously around the console towards him. She wasn't completely sure who this person was or what they were about, but her concerned nature and desire of being helpful powered through. Despite all the strikes against this person as far as trust went, because if this was the Doctor then not telling her that he could turn into a completely different looking person was a breach of trust, she was still concerned for his well being.  
"Er... are you alright?" She asked taking a step forward toward  
The Doctor. A strange looking golden vapor, which was in fact a piece of golden time vortex, issued from The Doctor's mouth. It then dissipated into the air in front of Rose. Rose observed it curiously and with confusion.  
"What's that?" She asked again, having no clue what was wrong. The Doctor now knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was starting to suffer from regeneration sickness and it was most likely only going to get worse.  
"Oh... the change is going a bit wrong and all." Sputtered The Doctor in fear. He gagged again and fell to his knees, his face contorting with pain. Rose's eyes filled with concern for the man and she longed to have someone else who might know more about Time Lords, aliens, anything more than her. She wanted the man who was like her big brother, and had been such a source of comfort, to be here to help and make her feel better. To assure her that everything was going to be okay.  
"Look... maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do." Suggested Rose as she tried to be the voice of reason.  
"Gah, he's busy! He's got plenty to do rebuilding the Earth!" Stated The Doctor impatiently and indignantly. Why was she suggesting going back to Jack when they were so close to reaching their new destination?  
"I haven't used this one in years." Mused The Doctor as he flipped a lever on the console that suddenly caught his eye. As soon as he flicked it, The TARDIS shuddered violently and they both were nearly knocked off their feet. Rose was violently thrown against the console but had managed to land on her side. Rose was now worried not only for The Doctor in question, but for herself and her unborn child. Angry that The Doctor could be this thoughtless she growled in both shock and anger,  
"What're you doing?!"  
"Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" Said The Doctor crazily and almost not even paying attention to Rose. He turned more knobs while Rose tried with all her might to maintain a more secure grip on the console. The Doctor was not pleased with how his TARDIS was performing and flipping more switches he spoke to the TARDIS,  
"My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!" The TARDIS began to violently pick up speed as The Doctor fiddled at the console. Rose began to look distinctly alarmed as she noticed just how much The Doctor looked and sounded violent and crazed. She was afraid of him and she didn't know what he would do next. She had never been so afraid of him in her life and it chilled her to the core. Oh, how she felt alone and helpless right now. She was completely at this crazed person's mercy and she just had to pray that he didn't kill them all.  
"Faster! Wanna break the time limit?!" Growled The Doctor in excitement. Rose had to try to gain some form of control over the situation and the man in front of her. Maybe if he saw how angry and scared she was then he would stop if he really cared.  
"Stop it!" Screamed Rose in anger and fear. The Doctor did not seem to be moved or paying her much attention.  
'Why was Rose being such a wet blanket?' Thought The Doctor through a crazed haze. 'I wouldn't have married such a timid creature even as a daft human!' he scoffed to himself. They were both alive and should enjoy it by throwing themselves into a situation that might kill them. It only made sense. Besides the TARDIS would never let Rose or their baby get hurt, what was the worry? She was just getting all excited over nothing when the speed was what she should have been excited about.  
"Ah, don't be so dull - let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" Shouted the Doctor slightly nastily and still crazed. Suddenly The Doctor felt the mind of the little tendril of life that Rose carried inside her. It was sensing that its mother was distressed as well as its father. He was choked up at how it was grasping at their minds for reassurance. He was sad that at the moment he was in no state to offer such mental comforts to his upset child. The Doctor turned his head to Rose, finally managing to catch her eye for a moment through his regeneration haze and saw that she was indeed scared and his hearts ached with guilt and concern for her as well. His voice calmed and in a moment of clarity he warned his Rose,  
"The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself. Tie yourself down! Things will be too rough for you or the baby otherwise." The Doctor then grimaced in pain. His head felt like it might split in two and clutching his hands at the console he groaned,  
"Ah, my head..." Unfortunately The Doctor had now lost all his control and he violently sprung up into a standing position again. His voice had gone back to being crazed with a thirst for speed. His eyes were wide and crazy with the whites of his eyes as exposed as they could be without popping out of his head. They couldn't go fast enough, he was obsessed with that idea, and it was all he could think of. Faster, faster, faster!  
"Faster! Let's open those engines!" He crowed with his arms stretched out wide. Suddenly Rose heard a bell ring that she never had heard the TARDIS sound before. Rose looked around, frightened and confused she asked what that sound meant. The Doctor all too delighted to answer, laughed manically as he appeared next to her,  
"We're gonna crash land!" He continued to laugh which Rose did not find amusing at all and terrified at the idea of crashing in a time and spaceship when an airplane crash was bad enough.  
"Well then, do something!" Shouted Rose over the warning sounds of the TARDIS as she scrambled over to the jump-seat which now appeared to have a seat-belt on it that resembled one you might see in a race car. There was nothing she could do now, but buckle up and protect their baby as best she could. She silently thanked the TARDIS as she strapped herself in and watched The Doctor manically move about the TARDIS seemingly happy that they were about to possibly die in a TARDIS crash. Was this how crazy The Doctor could get if he just changed his face? She knew she married a mad man but this was just nuts. Raising his voice to a hysterically level, the Time Lord explained,  
"Too late! Out of control!" He then started running around the console, giggling like a little boy.  
"Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!" He cheered as he hopped in the air excitedly.  
"You're gonna kill us!" Screeched Rose in fear and disbelief of The Doctor's actions. If it really was The Doctor left in there. Rose braced her stomach and prayed that somehow they might survive this.  
"Hold on tight, here we go!" Cheered The Doctor like a little boy at the sweets shop. Their eyes met across the way, the Doctor was grinning madly, and Rose was looking back at those eyes very scared.  
"Christmas Eve...!" The Doctor manically grinned as they came in for a crash landing. Rose realized that if she wanted to have any hope of survival she would have to start believing that this crazy man was The Doctor very quickly. Because only The Doctor could get them out of this situation alive now.


	2. Dropping in on the in-laws for Xmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is down for the count and Rose is left to make sense of all this on her own for a while.

**Complications**

By The-Plot-Thinens

** Chapter 2 – Dropping in on the in-laws for Xmas **

Jackie was decorating the flat for Christmas. Although this was supposed to be a happy time, she felt more like she was just going through the motions and doing it all just as ceremony. She really didn’t have much to celebrate lately. Even Christmas shopping, which she usually loved, had been heart wrenching. She had for a bit been able to convince herself as she was shopping that Rose would be back soon and found some pleasure in deciding what Rose would like to wear, but as soon as she got to the register to ring it up she had started to get teary. It was an awkward moment for the cashier and she felt sorry for him after the fact. She’d even on a good day had been optimistic enough to go shopping at a baby clothing store, and had bought something cute and white for her grandbaby to wear. She had even managed to joke to the store attendant that her daughter was going to have the loveliest baby as long as they took after their mother, as the father was an ugly old gargoyle. The attendant had made a crack about guessing her daughter didn’t marry for looks then, and Jackie had laughed with him. But later when she had started wrapping presents the idea that the baby clothes and little shoes she bought might never get worn made her break out some booze from the liquor cabinet.

The white plastic Christmas tree was now up and Jackie had finished putting the glass decorations on it. She remembered that when Rose was little she had to put away the glass ornaments for a few years until Rose was old enough not to break them, and wondered if she would have to do that again when the baby started walking around. She took a deep breath and walked away from the tree to grab the presents that she wanted to put under it. She placed a few presents for friends that she planned to have over the next day for a few hours, but then she came to the two that she had been putting off. She looks at the two of them. One is for Rose, and the other filled with newborn clothing for a baby. If Rose was coming back it would still be a few months before her due date, which Jackie had guesstimated, but it was never too early to spoil your grandbaby. If their mother was still alive, if not then Jackie had lost two more members of her family. She gazed wistfully into the distance as her eyes eventually settled on a handmade Christmas decoration that Rose had made out of clay and then fired in art class when she was six. 

  
Meanwhile, at Mickey's work at the repair garage, he was doing his best to make merry with his coworkers as they worked on various cars. Mickey was feeling a bit down lately. It was Christmas tomorrow and he was missing his friend and Ex-girlfriend, Rose. He never found out what had happened to her and although he was sad, he was trying his best at cheerful. After all , Rose wouldn't want him to be miserable this time of year. The radio was playing Christmas carols loudly as the men worked at their noisy trade, but suddenly Mickey thought that he heard the sound that he had been longing to hear for months now! Not sure if his mind and ears were playing tricks on him, Mickey shouted,

  
“Hey, turn that down. Turn it off, Stevo. Turn that off! John, shut up!” He listens and it was the same familiar whooshing sound. Needing no more encouragement Mickey ran out of the repair shop and chased after the noise. Little did Mickey know that Jackie too had heard that noise and knew it could only mean one things. She desperately called out her daughter’s name and raced after the sound too.

The two were happy to see the other, it confirmed that they both were not crazy and they had in fact heard the familiar engines. Meeting up in front of the Powell Estate, Mickey and Jackie embraced.

“Mickey!” Shouted Jackie to which the young man responded,

  
“Jackie, it's the TARDIS!”

  
“I know, I know, I heard it. She's alive, Mickey. I said so, didn't I? She's alive!” Cheered Jackie elated that she would get to see her daughter again and soon enough see her grandchild as well. Jackie was overcome with excitement and poor Mickey’s ears were having trouble hearing over her cries of joy. Raising his voice he shouted,

  
“Just shut up a minute.” The two then were silent. They listened and looked for the blue box that they wanted to see. The only problem was that they were not seeing it appearing before them and Jackie feeling very confused questioned,

  
“Well, where is it then?” She did not have too much longer to wonder after that as the TARDIS suddenly came out of the vortex in mid air above their heads. The TARDIS then bounced off one block of flats, a second and a third before avoiding a post office van and finally crashing into a set of waste bins. The TARDIS had nearly clipped off their heads and Jackie and Mickey barely had enough time to duck. This was not a normal landing by their memories and they worried that something was wrong. The two rushed over to the TARDIS fearing that something terrible had happened. 

Inside the TARDIS Rose opened her eyes which she had held tightly shut as she clasped at her restraints. She was not dead. She and her baby were not dead. They had been crashing and banging around but she was very much not dead and not hurt. ‘Well what about The Doctor?’Thought Rose as she looked around the TARDIS. There, picking himself off the floor, and apparently cushioned by some cables was The Doctor. He seemed dazed at first since he most likely had his brains jarred in the crash, and began to cheer at the ‘successful’ landing. As soon as he got on his feet he ran to the door shouting,

“Gotta make sure it’s right! Rightity Right!” He didn’t seem to remember anything or anyone other than that he had to make sure that it was Christmas and that he had the right time and place. Rose tried to get up and run after him, for she could tell he was not well, but she was reminded that she was still very snugly strapped in. Rose struggled at the latches on the harness the TARDIS had made for her, all the while cursing at how hard it was to take off,

“Blimey, how do you get out of this thing?” Hissed Rose as she watched the man, who was supposed to be her husband, run for the door. Not seeming to care if she or her unborn child were fine, he had essentially abandoned her to free herself somehow.

Swinging open the doors as he dizzily swayed back and forth he looked around and in triumph and with a quick smell of the air, to make sure he had the right date, he proudly said, as if he almost couldn’t believe it,  
  


“Here we are then, London. Earth. The Solar System. We did it!” The Time Lord turned his confused eyes to the two humans in front of him. He stepped out of the TARDIS and happily, more happy than normal, latched on to them. It was then that he realized that he had something of extreme importance to tell them. But his head was so fuzzy, if he could only just remember.

“Jackie. Mickey. Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on. Wait there. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you, something important. What was it? No, hold on, hold on. Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush. Oh, I know! We’re having a baby, Merry Christmas!” The Doctor harped before promptly collapsing into Mickey’s arms. Mickey laid the poor man, who seemed to know them, down on the ground gently. They were confused to say the least. Who was this man that seemed to dress like the big eared alien they knew? They were going to discuss their next move when Rose, finally free of her seatbelts, emerged from the TARDIS too. Jackie spotted Rose and practically walked over the passed out man just to reach her daughter who she pulled into a crushing hug. But still minding the baby.

“Rose, Rose! Oh my lovey, you’re safe! Oh, thank God! I thought you died! He brought you back! I was…” Cried Jackie, any concern that she had over the man at her feet was now curtailed by how easily Jackie was able to hug her daughter. She took a step back, but still held on to her daughter and looked down at Rose’s still very small belly and declared,

“Oh would you look at you! Is that an alien thing? I thought you’d be as big as a house by now, it’s been so many months.” Rose would love to have this conversation with her mother but after The Doctor was sorted. Gently she stepped away and said in a voice that sound like she was a bit out of it herself,

  
“Yeah, Time travel. What happened? Is he all right?” Indicating the man on the ground that Mickey was trying to help.

  
“I don't know, he just keeled over. But who is he? Where's The Doctor?” Asked Mickey very confused as to whom this new strange man was and that Rose had been the only other one to walk out of the TARDIS. Just because Rose was looking more obviously taken, didn’t mean Mickey was going to stop caring about her. Taking a deep breath and almost not believing it herself she gestured to the man now unconscious on the ground and declared,

  
“That's him, right in front of you. That's The Doctor.” This of course made no sense to Jackie and in a confused and somewhat angry voice inquired,

  
“What do you mean, that's The Doctor? Doctor who?”

Three humans had a problem. On the couch of Jackie Tyler’s flat was an unconscious man dressed in The Doctor’s clothing that according to Rose was in fact The Doctor. The Doctor with a brand new face. Apparently The Doctor had been dying and this was how Time Lords saved themselves. Beyond that they had not a clue what was wrong with him. But that was only one problem. The more awkward problem was what Rose had suggested after she insisted they not take him to the hospital. She said that they needed to get him ready for bed because he was not well. Everyone felt uncomfortable about dressing a ‘stranger’ for bed.

“You should do it Mickey. It’d be polite, since you’re a bloke too.” Insisted Jackie, to which Mickey shook his head and said,

“No way am I doing it, just let him sleep as he is. I’m not stripping him!” Rose rolled her eyes at the childishness before her and sighed,

“I’ll do it. But get lots of blankets. We don’t have any men’s pajamas, so I’ll have to strip him down to his pants.” Jackie didn’t like the idea of Rose being alone with some strange bloke, but then she reminded herself that this was somehow, The Doctor. This man, like it or not, was Rose’s husband, so technically there should be nothing wrong with Rose seeing him starkers. Jackie then got an idea.

“Hold up a tick. I think I have something for him.” Rose was confused but relieved at the same time as Jackie came back a few minutes later with a pair of pinstripe pajamas. She said nothing and Rose didn’t ask as Mickey carried The Doctor over his shoulders to Rose’s room. The Time Lord wasn't too heavy for someone as built as Mickey, but his gangling long legs made a habit of dragging on the floor and were tripping him up a bit. He deposited the sleeping man on her bed, maybe a bit too roughly for Rose’s liking and then he stood there with Jackie. Rose looked at the two a minute and clearing her throat, indicated that she wanted some privacy. Realizing this, finally, the two reluctantly left Rose alone with the unfamiliar man. Rose heard the door close and let out a sigh of relief. She looked down on the man sleeping on her bed and tried once more to see a resemblance to her old Doctor as she studied his new features and finally got a clear minded look at him. He was handsome, very handsome. There was no denying that but different from how her Doctor usually looked. Her Doctor would have called the man now lying on her bed a ‘pretty boy’ while scoffing. Rose, in spite of herself, let out a little chuckle at the thought. But that quickly dissipated as she remembered that that man was gone and this was the man to be his replacement. How could anyone replace her Doctor? Who was this Doctor? And was it certainly her Doctor? He was different physically and before acted quite differently. Was he going to be like that all the time or was he just ill. Could she adjust to the changes, did she want to? Did she want to just throw in the towel and embrace widowhood? Not yet, she decided. Whoever this person would be, she had to give them a chance to prove themselves. She owed the memory of her Doctor that much. And she owed their child that much too.

Now there was the matter of dressing him or rather undressing him. Rose had never undressed her Doctor after he had changed from John to The Doctor. And although the clothing was the same, the body and face wasn’t. She felt guilty at doing this to someone who felt like a stranger, but she tried hard to fight back against that feeling as she started to unbuckled his belt. More guiltily she did not look at his face but focused on the task, while pretending that the face of the man she was doing this to was familiar to her. At least that way she felt more comfortable. 

‘Wow,’ Rose thought as she slid off his trousers, ‘That’s different. He’s got freckles all over!’ Rose found this pretty much the case all over this slender built gorgeous man. As she finally buttoned the last button on his pajama top, she had to fight off the guilt and feeling of cheating she felt at having undressed and dressed a man she was finding herself attracted to more and more. Rose looked over to the discarded beaten up leather coat that The Doctor had worn. Picking it up she wrapped it around her and breathed in the leather and Time scent that she had learned to love and now missed terribly. The slight hint of John and The Doctor lingered in her nose and she felt tears on her face. She pulled the jacket closer still and looked at the man on the bed under the covers. Her eyes fell on the ring on his finger and she prayed that it was really him. Rose hung the jacket up on the wall next to him. It seemed wrong that it should be far from him. Would he still want to wear it afterwards? It didn’t seem to fit him anymore and that too broke her heart. ‘Heart. Hearts. Were his alright? I need to check em’, Rose put her hand on his chest but she was no doctor. No matter how hard she tried to feel with her hand she thought that it just felt like one big erratic heartbeat. She needed something to check him with that would help ease her worry and make sure both his hearts were working properly. If his hearts were working then that was a good start. She felt for a pulse too but again she didn’t know what was right for a Time Lord. All she knew so far was that he had burst into flames, supposedly built a new body and went crazy before passing out in a close to deathlike trance. She had to find out more on how to help him, well she could at least try. She couldn’t bring him to a human doctor. Even if they didn’t suspect that he was really an alien, she was sure that most any doctor she would bring him to would want to write in a medical journal about him. Or they would report him to some other higher medical authority. If that happened maybe the wrong person would hear about him and then lock him up for ‘further study’ on his condition! She would never see him again, and even though she was still uncertain as to who this person she used to know had become, she couldn’t lose him. They needed to talk about what happened and what happens next, and she needed him awake and not crazy to do it. Rose looked to the door that she knew her mother was waiting outside of and wiped away any tears left on her face before opening the door. 

“Mum, can we go to a medical supply store? I need something to listen for what’s going on in the Doctor’s chest.” Stated Rose in a worried voice. Referring to this man, whose actions before had been anything but Doctory, as 'The Doctor' still felt strange to her when the words left her mouth. Rose dared not call the man in the bed anything else in front of Mickey and Jackie, if they questioned it, even Rose who had watched him explode into this man might be tempted to let her resolve break under all the pressure of this uncertainty.

“Where am I?” asked The Doctor as he groggily sat up from a soft cushy bed. He looked about the room or it at least it seemed mostly a room. It was distorted a bit. It looked like John Smith’s bedroom at his house near the college campus. Looked like was the word. Parts of it appeared to be there. Other parts of it were spiraling distortions followed by out of place bits that looked like the inside of the TARDIS. He felt a great pain stab through his head and decided to get up and head to the bathroom, not because he thought that he would find anything there to alleviate his pain. It was more like he was compelled to do so out of habit, John’s habit. He swung open the door and walked up to the mirror only to see his old face. He thought that strange since he was sure he had regenerated, yes he remembered. He had regenerated. He must be in a healing coma that would explain the strange environment and that no matter how he tried right now, he was not waking up. Was this how he looked now? The mirror then started talking to him.

“Oi, no you don’t look like me anymore. Pity, ya pretty boy. But go down stairs. You can talk to us more there.” Said The Doctor’s cropped haired reflection in a gruff voice. The reflection then seemed to walk out of the mirror and disappeared as the glass ended. The mirror became distorted and swirling, it would be of no further use. Pity, he wanted to see what he looked like now. All he knew was he was pretty and he didn’t know if he would like that. He thought that meant at least he couldn’t do any worse with his nose. He then walked out of John’s bedroom and made his way to the stairs.

Rose was sitting ‘patiently’ on her bed, next to the sleeping Doctor. She couldn’t help but let her eyes fall on the wedding band on his ring finger, and remember what that small band of gold meant to her. But mostly she looked at his face. She watched his face carefully for any signs that he might be coming around, but he seemed just to be in peaceful slumber. Sure he was peaceful now, but earlier he had gone crazy and, sure he had not hurt Rose directly, but indirectly he had almost gotten all three of them killed. If he were to wake up and start acting like that again then maybe they might want to tie him down. Rose rejected that idea as foolish. She could never believe that The Doctor would raise his own hand against her, besides, they didn’t have anything to tie him up with or to. Not to mention, if this man, though of slighter build, was The Doctor, then The Doctor was at least as strong as any muscular human male. She’d seen him lift heavy enough things, though not without complaining, which she would have smirked at the memory if the circumstance were different.

Rose had concluded that she wanted a stethoscope and was all set to go across town to buy one, but Jackie had suggested otherwise. First she didn’t want Rose exerting herself in her condition, which Rose thought was well meaning but unnecessary for the time being. However, Jackie claimed she knew where to get one close by and after Jackie having produced just a few hours ago, at least from Rose’s perspective, an oversized rescue vehicle, Rose did not question her means of finding and getting whatever item her mother wanted.

  
“Here we go. Tina the cleaner's got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to hospital.” Jackie declared as she came into the room and handed the ‘borrowed’ stethoscopes to her daughter. Taking him to a hospital was out of the question,

“We can't. They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race. No! Shush!” Insisted Rose, she was not handing The Doctor over to anyone. She was going to protect him and care for him as she knew he would if she were in such a state. Rose nervously put on the stethoscope, not knowing what to expect but hoping it wasn't anything bad. Rose took a deep breath and placed the cold metal diaphragm of the stethoscope on the sleeping man’s chest. Rose heard the left heart beating, much to her relief and then placed the chest piece over his right side and as alien as it would have been to hear a heart there in a human, to Rose it was a great comfort. Only The Doctor had two hearts. This was a definitely a Time Lord, but how much of her Time Lord was left was another story. Letting out a sigh, Rose exhaled,   
  
  


“Both working.”

  
“What do you mean, both?” Asked Jackie confused. Rose then said in a matter-of-fact voice,

  
“Well, he's got two hearts.” Jackie thought that this was no time for her daughter to be playing tricks and scoffed,

  
“Oh, don't be stupid.” Rose sighed in exasperation and simply stated,

  
“He has.” She wasn’t lying and got up to head for the kitchen to find something to eat, finally having an appetite. Eating for two was draining enough without emotional uncertainty attached to it.

  
“Anything else he's got two of?” Asked Jackie as she fought the urge to look further down him for anything, out of the ordinary that Rose might possibly have knowledge of and was too embarrassed to point out to her mother. Rose figured that she probably just had a dirty mind, when she thought of what else Jackie could be referring to, and had to fight off a blush. With annoyance and a bit of embarrassment on her voice she hissed,

  
“Leave him alone.” Rose then quietly left the room in a huff. She did not need this right now. Jackie looked as if she washed her hands of the subject and followed Rose out of the room while tip-toeing. She had better questions to ask her daughter about her son-in-law. Well if it was her son-in-law, at least he looked closer to Rose’s age. That in itself was a blessing to her. She knew that there would be issues later involving Rose’s alien husband having put on a different face, but at least she didn’t have to worry about embarrassing misidentification anymore. Meaning that the days of Rose’s husband and Rose’s mother being mistaken for Rose’s parents might be gone. That had happened a few times in the past. It wasn’t any fun introducing a man old enough to be your husband as your son-in-law. Unknown to the women as they left the room, their minds lost in their own thoughts, The Doctor once more exhaled some of the TARDIS's golden energy. It left through the window flying out into space to be found by unsavory creatures.

  
The Doctor made his way down the stairs and along the walls of the charmingly lived in house were eight or so framed pictures of himself, or rather John Smith with Rose. These were pictures of their various adventures that they had gone on throughout the duration of their short courtship and even shorter married domestic life. Could he ever give Rose a life like that? Could he ever give her the life she deserved, whatever that was? He saw a night photo of the two of them kissing on a blanket in a grassy field with the stars overhead and a telescope to the right of them. It had obviously been taken with a tripod and a delay feature, they had gone alone. That had been Rose’s idea, but as bashful as he had been as John it didn’t take long to convince him to take that picture. The Doctor smiled at the memory of that perfect night. It had been a bit chilly so Rose and John had spent most of the time cuddled up together under a second blanket taking turns looking through the eyepiece of the telescope. The Doctor stopped reminiscing long enough to realize that these photos like a lot of things about this house, were out of place and swirly. He did not remember these photos ever being there on the wall of the house. He had remembered John wanting to frame them especially because Rose had asked him to, but unfortunately he just never gotten around to it and now he guessed that he never would. Anyway he had delayed enough and he was keeping himself waiting apparently.

Rose was busy investigating the fridge of the Tyler flat for something to eat. Her stomach was acting up and Rose groaned under her breath,

“Hush, I’m trying to feed you.” Not knowing if she was saying that more to her stomach or her offspring near the same place.

Jackie had clearly not been expecting company this year and the selection of food stuff was anything other than great or festive. Rose eyes some convenience store muffins and thought that those looked good. As she reached for it Jackie came up from behind her and asked,

  
“How can he go changing his face? Is that a different face or is he a different person?” Jackie didn’t realize it but by asking these questions she was bringing up again the biggest insecurity she had about this situation to light. Was The Doctor a different person now? Irrational anger at The Doctor for doing this to them, even if he couldn’t help it, boiled up in her. She had spent months adjusting to The Doctor and their new life together and now they might very well be back at square one again. She wanted her child to come into a family not questioning where the parents’ relationship stood.

“How should I know? It seems like my husband’s basically been replaced with another person, again! But at least last time they looked alike!” Snapped Rose at her mother in frustration. Rose then saw the hurt look on her mother’s face and Rose realized that Jackie knew just as much as she did about this situation and like Rose was only looking for answers. 

“…Sorry. The thing is I thought I knew him, Mum. .. Well I thought I knew him again. I thought me and him were… All those months, all the frustration, back pedaling and heart ache…I thought that we were finally moving forward…getting somewhere… And then he goes and does this….” Sobbed Rose as she wiped some tears from her eyes. She was trying very hard not to break down in front of her mother, but she was tired, confused, and moving steadily into her third month of pregnancy was not helping. Thankfully Jackie came up and held her hand, which was a great comfort to Rose who managed to calm herself as best as she could and explained,

“Even though so much had changed, I just looked at him and… I keep forgetting he's not human anymore. Sometimes I even think he’s John, I’ve blurred the two, and he’s one being. The Doctor and John, but they looked the same… John used to tell me everything and it hurts me that he keeps secrets now…He doesn’t tell me a thing it seems and I …” Rose realized that she was rambling and looking more pitiful and in an attempt to change the subject and lighten up the mood she put on a brave smile and in a teary voice asked,

“The big question is where'd you get a pair of men's pajamas from? John never brought any here.”   
  


“Howard's been staying over.” Said Jackie as she turned around to busy herself with some drawers. Rose had grown up with practically a revolving door of male friends of her Mother’s. Jackie never really ever seemed to find the right guy, but she was good at finding all the wrong ones. They either had turned out to be losers or they just weren’t good enough. Rose could never understand her mother’s taste in men. Well maybe she could a little. Her mother had made a pass at her husband once, well boyfriend at the time. Something she was convinced had part to do with why her mother was always so cold to John. She was probably embarrassed as much as she was mortified by her daughter dating a man that was old enough to be her father. Still after meeting her father and knowing how he died, Rose had been wondering if her father had ruined Jackie for other men, it was like no one but Pete Tyler would due in the end. And that of course was impossible so sadly, Rose didn’t think that her mother would ever know that kind of companionship again. And speaking of companionship, Rose thought of Howard from the market and he wasn’t exactly the kind of man she could see her mother dating. Quite frankly he was weird and always seemed to have food in his mouth or in his stubble.  
  


“What, Howard from the market? How long's that been going on?” Asked Rose trying to mask the disbelief and a little bit of disgust on her face.   
  


“A month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought, ‘that's odd.’ Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges…” Said Jackie as she began to describe the wooing and courtship she was experiencing with Howard, but was interrupted by Rose.   
  


“Is that Harriet Jones?” Asked Rose as she heard the familiar voice of her friend, Harriet, who had fought alongside her and cared for her as a mother might for her own child in danger. Rose entered the small living room of her mother’s flat and gazed in amazement at the television as she saw Harriet speaking before a large crowd of people on the news.   
  


“Oh, never mind me.” Snarked Jackie as she followed Rose into the living room.

“Why's she on the telly?” Asked Rose amazed to see her friend looking so important.

  
“She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off. They're calling it Britain's Golden Age. I keep on saying my Rose has met her.” Boasted Jackie to her daughter. 

  
“Did more than that. Stopped World War Three with her. Harriet Jones.” Smirked Rose, happy to see that something was going right. Watching for a few minutes more Rose learned that not only was Harriet finally not a back bencher, but an advocate for the advancement of space exploration despite opposition that it was a waste of funds. Harriet proudly spoke of a space probed called Guinevere and Britain taking its own steps to explore the universe. Harriet, it seemed didn’t want Britain to be a back bencher either in space exploration. As Harriet spoke, the probe was already making its way to Mars to take pictures, unknown to anyone on Earth the probe was about to be intercepted by danger. And little did they know that danger was on its way to Earth to conquer.  
  


Rose spent the better part of the day worrying over the sleeping man in her bed and wondering if he would ever wake up, if she was doing enough to help him, and what he would be like when he woke up. The other half she actually spent sleeping herself, since due to her condition she often found that she liked to a rest now and again. Jackie had caught her asleep sprawled next to The Doctor’s feet. She looked comfortable enough on her side, but Jackie was afraid that she might accidentally roll off the bed. Very gently as only a mother can seem to do, Jackie woke Rose up enough to get her on her feet and guide her to the other bedroom. 

“Love, you just rest, I’ll keep an eye on The Doctor.” She whispered to her daughter as Jackie tucked her in. Rose was grateful for some proper rest and having spent a few hours warmly cuddled in a bed that smelt of her mother was a very nice comfort. It was getting close to night fall when Rose finally woke up and Mickey who had gone back to work for a few more hours was now in the flat waiting for her. Mickey had spotted Rose from the living room after she had checked to see any change in The Doctor. There was none. Realizing she could do with some tea to settle her stomach she smiled at Mickey and made to go into the kitchen, but as if reading her mind Jackie had a cup ready for her along with some biscuits and herded her into the living room for a sit.

“That’s ma girl. Are you feeling up to a little Christmas shopping? Jackie said you were getting some much needed sleep out of the way.” Beamed Mickey to his Ex Girlfriend. Rose smiled back because a Mickey smile was catching. A little shopping sounded like a good idea. Some normal Earth shopping might get some stress off of her, and after all, stress was no good for her or the baby. She also needed to get her mother a present since Rose had noticed that there was one for her under the tree in the living room. Rose agreed to the outing and a half hour later, Mickey and Rose were absorbing the holiday atmosphere in a festive shopping area.

A brass band dressed in Santa robes played ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’ as the two friends walked by. Rose was dazzled by how everyone and everything was all dressed up so differently from how she had seen it only a few hours ago. Well to her it was a few hours to Mickey it had been a few months. Rose put her hands back into her pockets to warm them up as it was a bit chilly outside. Mickey was sure that Rose did not have her purse on her and granted she had been so distracted with all that had happened today. He could not blame her for just blindly following him in whatever direction and forgetting that you needed cash to buy presents. With gallantry he held up some money and handed it to Rose.  
  


“So what do you need? Twenty quid?” Asked Mickey cheerily.   
  


“Do you mind? I'll pay you back.” Said Rose, not having any money on her at the moment. Her wallet was in the TARDIS…Somewhere. She had lost track of it from lack of use. Whenever they needed something The Doctor just used his psychic paper or had period money on him. The Doctor seemed to have endless credit and she usually didn’t have to worry about money, which was a very liberating feeling.  
  


“Call it a Christmas present.” Smiled Mickey to Rose, he could see that the concept that it was now actually Christmas was still growing on her.   
  


“God, I'm all out of sync. You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. They don't exist. You get sort of timeless.” Said Rose, time travel never seemed to stop astonishing her. Rose looked about the many shops selling all manner of things decked out for the holidays, and hopefully somewhere among these was a present that she could get for her mother. The more Rose thought about it the more she found herself getting a little more disappointed that she had missed the whole month of eager anticipation waiting for Christmas and all the preparation that came with it. And a tiny domestic part of her would have had liked to have had time to ‘get’ the baby a present too. Well something to give to the baby when it got here anyway. If she were in sync with her mother’s timeline, she would have been much further along by now, but that was time travel for you. Rose also couldn’t help but think back on her old house near campus that she had not been to in ages. She couldn’t help but imagine what that first Christmas together would have been like. She was sure that John would have wanted to make a big deal out of it and put up decorations and a huge tree, and mistletoe. She would have hung it from every doorframe in the house. They would have hung stockings, made cookies, and oh gee…That’s right, she would have been getting closer to giving birth by then. They would have soon been starting their unexpected, but very wanted, family and making family holiday memories together in that house. Rose, exhaled slightly at thoughts of what could have been. She couldn’t have that exactly like that with The Doctor, but she could have had something close enough. But now with the future of The Doctor so uncertain, Rose did not know what was reasonable to hope for anymore. Mickey was oblivious to Rose’s deep thoughts as he said in a somewhat sarcastic but not ill natured voice,  
  


“Oh, yeah, that's fascinating, because I love hearing stories about the TARDIS. Oh, go on Rose, tell us another one because I swear I could listen to it all day. TARDIS this, TARDIS that.” Rose jokingly told Mickey to ‘shut up’ as she could tell that Mickey was just giving her a hard time and poking fun at her obsession with the ever amazing TARDIS. Not feeling ‘threatened’ at all Mickey proceeded to do his best Rose, the crazy Time Traveler, impression. In a voice sounding overly excited while waving his arms he smirked,   
  


“Oh, and one time the TARDIS landed in a big yellow garden full of balloons.”   
  


“I'm not like that!” snipped Rose, only half serious. Mickey just rolled his eyes and laughed,

“Oh, you so are. Giant TARDIS fangirl!” Mickey mused that since Rose spent so much time praising and talking about the TARDIS that she should have married the TARDIS instead.   
  


“Mmm, must drive you mad. I'm surprised you still put up with me and my crazy life.”   
  


“Oh, that's the thing, isn't it? You can rely on me. I don't go changing my face.” Declared Mickey. He knew it was a cheap shot and even more so to try to move in on Rose while The Doctor was bedridden, but this Doctor bloke changing his face proved to be a possible game changer. Rose might not mind settling on a consistent regular honest guy like himself. Mickey had to remind himself that that wasn’t the sole purpose of this outing.

  
“Yeah….” Said Rose half paying attention at the mention of The Doctor again as she thought of her strong, imposing, to everyone but her, leather clad Doctor and then had to replace that image with the pale sickly man barely breathing in her bed at home. She then said out loud in worry,

“What if he's dying?” Mickey was having none of this, he was not her boyfriend anymore, the child in her belly was not his, but he could not stand seeing her killing herself with worry while he was trying to show her a good time and get her mind off of all that worrying. It wasn’t good for her, that baby, or his evening that Rose should continue to worry the whole night. Besides if that guy really was The Doctor, he was most likely too tough to keel over and too spiteful to make Mickey’s path to a possibly normal future with Rose any easier. He just wanted to have this time with Rose with no Doctor and pretend that things were still the way they were before Rose’s life had gone in such a different direction. Maybe even just for a few hours hold her hand, walk merrily down the street together and maybe make-believe, just for a little while, that Rose was his and the baby Rose carrying was his. That was his own little fantasy. What he wanted was to do everything in his power to make Rose happy for this time they had, and if pretending that they were a couple could make him even tenderer to her then he would do it. Which was why when he was putting all his efforts into relaxing Rose and she was still stressing, he found it annoying? Couldn’t he just be enough to make her forget her troubles just for a little bit? In a voice that at first was more frustrated and exasperated than he would have liked to sound he said,

“Okay.” They were not going down that path right now. He was sure as anything that that man was not dying and Rose didn’t need to worry so much, and Rose could read that in his voice.

“Sorry!” Mewed Rose, who had been caught once more thinking about The Doctor, she knew that the whole purpose of Mickey taking her out was to get her mind off of everything, and she appreciated that. She wasn’t completely clueless as to what a great bloke Mickey was for sticking by her as her friend and helping her through such a tough time now, knowing that he wasn’t going to get anything out of it but her gratitude. Mickey was a wonderful person. But to be fair her husband was sick and possibly dying and didn’t look a thing like her husband anymore. That was a lot to try to forget on a Christmas shopping trip. Mickey took Rose’s hands in his and begged Rose, 

  
“Just let it be Christmas. Can you do that? Just for a bit. Stop worrying for just a bit. You and me, your best mate, and Christmas. Our minds off of anything upsetting, no sick husband, no bog monsters, no life or death, no millions of lives in the balance. Just some rest and relaxing.” Rose could see that Mickey wanted desperately to spend this little bit of time they had together in a fashion they would have before Rose had met John. Rose didn’t have anything she could offer him as a Christmas present, but she could try to help give him a good time out. Rose nodded the affirmative to which Mickey asked her if she promised that they would just have a normal night out Christmas shopping.   
  
  


“Yes!” Promised Rose in slight irritation, she got the idea and she really was trying, really. Mickey let go of Rose’s hands and she then placed her hand over her growing abdomen and tried to remember to relax for the little one’s sake.  
  
  


“Right! What're you going to get for your mum?” Questioned Mickey. Rose followed him as he surveyed the many carts of Christmas items nearby.

  
“Because if you need help picking out a present, then boy do I ever know. I'm round there all the time now, you know. You’re mum does my dinner on a Sunday, talks about you all afternoon, yap yap yap. Talks about things she likes, doesn’t like. I can probably name seven things you could get her.” Declared Mickey.

Mickey seemed unaware that the same band of creepy Santas, who were all wearing plastic looking masks, had started to follow them. Rose on the other hand was starting to think it strange that that same song she had heard playing earlier had not faded away as they had walked away from that band. Were they also walking down the street? She couldn’t shake off the idea that she was being followed when she noticed that that creepy band seemed to be slowly closing in on them. And when she felt that she was walking into a trap her instincts were usually correct. 

Rose casually kept glancing back and indeed they were getting closer to her. And no sooner did she turn around yet again to get another look at the creepy Santa band, they stopped playing. Rose stared at them and them at her. One she noticed was slowly adjusting its grip on it trombone and every instinct was telling Rose that this was the ‘one thing out of place’ that The Doctor had always warned her to watch out about. It was a contest to see who would make the first move and ultimately it was the Santa who made the first attack. The trombonist Santa fired a flame out of his instrument, but Rose was quick and managed to duck out of the way while pulling Mickey with her. The other Santas then started firing some form of artillery at them. This, of course, started a panic in the busy street and screaming humans started running this way and that. Rose hoped that they might slip away without notice, but the enemy was too close and the crowd too thick. So Mickey and Rose hid behind a stall and collected themselves on what to do next.

  
  
“It's us! They're after us!” Screeched Rose from her crouched position. Mickey ducked down lower only to realize that their cover would not provide them much protection for long. Grabbing onto Rose’s hand the man pulled her behind another row of stalls and the two sprinted for the street all the while dodging gunfire. Rose prayed that Mickey had a plan to get all three of them out of this mess alive and indeed he did. Mickey tugged Rose behind and past a large Christmas tree in the square and this was more than enough cover and an obstacle to give them a head start. They kept running away all the while still dodging gunfire and praying that their enemies aim would stay bad. One of the Santas carrying a tuba in its hands had then fired a blast from said tuba at Mickey and Rose. This consequently demolished that same large Christmas tree that Rose and Mickey had run behind, accidentally sending it crashing down on top of the tuba Santa. At least who ever these guys were, they weren’t too bright thought Mickey, but that probably wouldn’t stop them for long.

That was one Santa down. So Mickey and Rose took that opportunity to flee faster than they ever fled. Mickey, his courage now spend for the night, began to shout his distress and fear to Rose as they made tracks to any place but where they just were.   
  


“What's going on? What've we done? Why are they after us?” Asked Mickey now in a panic. Why couldn’t he just have a normal night with Rose? He was beginning to understand that with Rose, nothing ever would be normal again.

  
“Taxi!” Shouted Rose at the top of her lungs as she managed to hail a cab and then got in pulling Mickey in after her. Rose looked behind her to see that fortunately the remaining Santas had not caught up to their now speeding away cab.

“They're after The Doctor.” Shouted Rose as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  
“I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band. Who're you phoning?” Yelped Mickey still in a panic.  
  
“My Mum!” Shouted Rose, worried that those things might be going after her mother too. Rose grabbed at her mobile and dialed the number to her mother’s flat to warn her. Only to get a busy signal.

“She turns up, no warning. I've got nothing in. I said, Rose, if you want a Christmas dinner of meat paste, then so be it.” Chatted Jackie to her friend on the phone about her daughter’s sudden appearance. Now that it was no longer debatable if her daughter was still alive, Jackie found herself slipping into the annoyance at not having anything ready for her daughter for Christmas. Just the usual holiday stress of wondering where she would get a turkey the next day and a dozen other things.

“Get off the phone!” Shouted Rose, back in the cab into her phone as if her mother could actually hear her. Rose wanted to bite her phone in two she was so frustrated. They would not be able to give Jackie a warning. Rose knew from years of experience that her mother could talk the ears off of a cornstalk. She wasn’t going to be hanging up any time soon and they needed to race back.   
  


“There’s a big tip in it for ya, if you get to Powell estate in five minutes!” Shouted Rose at the driver as she held up the money Mickey had given her.

“Who were those Santa things?” Questioned Mickey hoping Rose possessed some information that he did not. Unfortunately, Rose had never seen these people before and was just about as clueless as Mickey.   
  


“I don't know. But think about it. They were after us. What's important about us? Well, nothing, except the one thing we've got tucked up in bed. The Doctor.” Shouted Rose, it was easy to figure that out. They needed to get back to the flat and they needed to guard The Doctor and possibly move him to someplace safer. Rose just prayed that they weren’t already too late to save The Doctor, because if this enemy knew who they were, than they most likely knew where they came from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does the Starship Plot-Thinens run on? ANGST! And yet somehow it’s been keeping you guys around. Don’t worry you are going to love what I have in store for you.


	3. What a time to be sleeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killer Christmas Tree and head cases.

**Complications**

By The-Plot-Thinens

** Chapter 03 - What a time to be sleeping **

****

“Oh, no. Don't come round, darling. No, flat's all topsy turvy. Yeah, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah. No, I'll come round and see you on Boxing Day.” Said Jackie as she nattered on over the phone with her friend as she placed a mug of tea by The Doctor's bed. She wasn’t sure if he would wake up anytime soon, but her nurturing instincts were telling her that a cup of tea should be by a sick person’s bedside. As she left the room she once more missed the opportunity to see yet more golden energy exhaled by The Doctor.

The Doctor was walking through John’s distorted hallway full of closed doors. Somewhere on this first floor was where he needed to be. He opened one door and behind it was a horrible sight of burning, death, fire, and within that fire Gallifrey. The Doctor grasped the door frame so as not to fall on his knees. He was so overcome with emotions.

“Oi, mind closing that? You’re letting in a draft!” Shouted one voice through a closed door across the hall from The Doctor, followed by a voice that sounded much the same but different,

“Just come through this one, no sense in going into that room, it’s always a mess these days.” Now very curious and more than happy to leave the memories of his horrific past behind him for now, he closed that door and opened the one that the two voices had come through. The Doctor stepped through the door to find John Smith’s relaxing private study. His leather clad self was sprawled on a settee with John Smith in an armchair across from him. They were having tea and some snacks.

“Bout time you showed up. We already gone through all the jelly babies, sorry ‘bout that, pretty boy.” Said his shorn haired incarnation. John put down his teacup and invited The Doctor to sit down. The Doctor looked at his old self, ‘Again with the pretty boy statements.’ He thought. It made him curious on his looks again and looking to the two versions of him he asked,

“I’ve got a very important question to ask then, am I ginger?” The two ‘twins’ looked at each other and smirked.

“Oh no, it’s just too much fun keeping you guessing.” Laughed John.

“Pretty boys. They’re always wanting to look in a mirror. When did I get so vain?” Declared his leather clad self. The leather wearing Doctor then got up and offered his new self a seat but before the Time Lord could sit down, The Doctor found himself suddenly having the wind knocked out of him, with a respiratory bypass, this was a feat indeed. His former self had punched him in the gut. This made him keel backward into the comfortable seat he was now gasping in.

“That was for bloody risking Rose’s life in a TARDIS crash! Are you as stupid as you are pretty?” Snarled the leather wearing Doctor. The Doctor could barely cough out words, but managed to squeak out that he was and is suffering from regeneration sickness. And that they had tried to do worse after regenerating in the past.

“I didn’t bloody give my life for our family, just to have the new me endanger them like that!” Hissed The Doctor’s ninth incarnation. All The Doctor could do was cough out an apology as his former incarnation roughly handed him a cup of tea almost spilling it in the Doctor’s lap. After The Doctor had taken his own cup of tea and settled down, John spoke.

“Yes, well, let’s stop beating ourselves up already.” Suggested John, to which the Shorn haired Doctor declared,

“You’re one to talk.” John cleared his throat and ever trying to be the voice of reason stated,

“Yeah, well I guess we all seemed to have our differences when we first met. We’ve had a bit of time to discuss things around here and your former self and I have found that we have much more in common than looks.” The leather clad Doctor then gruffed,

“Like a love of giving a whack to the face for slighting his woman.” The Doctor’s ninth incarnation then placed his hand on his cheek. Indicating that John might have had a few words to give The Doctor for any trouble he had put Rose through.

“I’m beginning to think it’s a family trait, should have kept Rose’s name so you could have claim to the Tyler fist too.” Leather Doctor complained, though John looked pleased with himself and said,

“That was for sending Rose away. Captain Jack never got a chance to punch you, after all.” The Doctor felt that he was going to prove to be very interesting company.

“I’m a rather violent person as of late, aren’t I?” Mused The Doctor, a bit disturbed, as he looked around the distorted room with only himself as company and praying he could eventually be civil.

Rose and Mickey’s cab finally reached the Powell Estate. Rose threw all the money Mickey had given her into the driver’s hands and ran out of the car. Mickey tried not to feel slighted that he had given that money to Rose for Christmas shopping. They did, after all, have more important matters at hand. The two raced up the stairs and as Rose reach the door to her mother’s flat. Rose could hear her mother loudly talking on the phone, as usual.  
  


“So, save us a chipolata.” Said Jackie over the phone to her friend as Mickey and Rose burst into the flat.   
  


“Get off the phone.” Demanded Rose, not wanting to waste any more time with those Santa men possibly hot on their tails. Was Rose worried that it was someone bad on the phone? Thought Jackie. Jackie not understanding the urgency of the situation declared,

  
“It's only Bev. She says hello.” Rose liked Bev but had no time for social calls, they needed to move fast! So as politely as rude could be, she grabbed the phone out of her mother’s hand, said her goodbyes to Bev, and hung up on her. She put down the phone and very concerned for her family explained to her mother,   
  


“Right, it's not safe. We've got to get out. Where can we go?” Mickey had an idea and suggested they go to his friend Stan’s house, but Rose shot that down quickly as it was only two streets away and not far away enough to avoid possible detection.   
  


“What about Mo? Where's she living now?” Ask Rose as she scanned her mind for far away enough locations to squirrel The Doctor away.   
  


“I don't know. Peak District.” Answered Jackie confused and wondering what her daughter was on about. That was far away enough for Rose. All they needed to do was quickly get The Doctor into Mickey’s car and whisk him away to Mo’s until he was better and could defend himself against those Santas.   
  


“Well, we'll go to cousin Mo's then.” Stated Rose, but Jackie wasn’t having any of this ridiculous behavior.   
  


“No, it's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about? Even I didn’t get this crazy when I was pregnant. I was hoping you’d be like me and just stick to odd cravings!” Protested Jackie. Rose let out an exasperated sigh. She was scared for them and for The Doctor. They had just tried to kill her and Mickey and she didn’t think those Santas would call it quits just yet. With as calm a voice as she could muster Rose began to speak to her mother, but stopped when she noticed a big change in the flat.   
  


“Mum. Where'd you get that tree?” Rose asked as she looked at the new item in the house. Once more her leather clad Doctor was telling her to keep an eye out for that one thing out of place. Call it paranoid but her head was screaming danger. A big green Christmas tree was in the living room and Rose remembered that the last one had not been that big and was white. Almost panicked Rose asked her, mother,  
  


“That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?” Jackie explained that she thought that Rose had sent it.  
  


“How can it be me?” Questioned Rose of her mother. The last thing on Rose’s mind after a day like she had had would be tree shopping.   
  


“Well, you went shopping. There was a ring at the door, and there it was!” Explained Jackie. Rose now knowing that something was very wrong said that it wasn’t her who left the tree.   
  


“Then who was it?” Asked Jackie, now becoming just as spooked as Mickey and Rose were looking. Then as if on cue, the tree began to light up and started playing Jingle Bells like some kind of demented music box.   
  


“Oh, you're kidding me.” Whispered Rose as she placed her arms protectively over her abdomen. The tree’s branches began spinning like the bottom of a blender and rotated in different directions, creating a strong wind. It then started to move, chopping through her mother’s coffee table as it slowly made its way towards them.   
  


“Get out! Go, go! Get out!” Warned Mickey as he grabbed a nearby chair to fend off the menacing tree as Jackie and Rose ran towards the exit of the flat.   
  


“We've got to save The Doctor.” Announced Rose over the noise as she went back into her room to try and drag The Doctor from the flat.   
  


“What're you doing?” Yelled Jackie, not understanding in the moment why Rose was going back into the flat with a killer Christmas tree in it to endanger her life.  
  


“We can't just leave my husband!” Shouted Rose back at her mother, she was not leaving behind the father of her child. And she desperately wanted to believe that that man on the bed really was her husband. Jackie was beside herself with what to do, she wasn’t going to leave her daughter and her daughter wasn’t going to leave her husband. Jackie turned her head back to the living room and saw that Mickey’s chair was fighting a losing battle with the Christmas tree. Jackie called for Mickey to get out of the room and follow them. 

Rose realized very quickly that she was going to need help moving the man on the bed, even though he was thinner then the last man who had worn that leather coat. Rose called out to Mickey and heeding her call he ran to the room containing the Doctor much to Jackie’s dismay. She wanted the three of them out of the flat.

“No, leave him. Just leave him!” Ordered Jackie, not wanting to risk her daughter, friend and grandchild for the sleeping alien in Rose’s bedroom, but Rose was having none of that. Where Rose was, Mickey would follow as he did not wish to leave her behind either. Jackie lingered by the bedroom entrance, but seeing that the tree was getting closer and Mickey was demanding her to get inside, she yielded to Mickey’s demand and screaming ran through the door and slammed it shut.  
  


“Anyway as you have guessed we have discussed our differences and in spite of them, we both agree we love Rose and want what is best for her and our baby.” The last part John couldn’t say without smiling in a sad way. The Doctor knew exactly what John was thinking. He was thinking that he wished that he himself could be there for Rose and their child. He wanted to have been the one to raise and help provide for his family, but he understood that his time had passed and it was now this new Doctor’s turn to make Rose happy, even though they technically were still the same person. John Smith was as much a former regeneration as any of his other incarnation The Doctor reasoned. John, even though he had been of human capacity in thoughts and ways, his thoughts were just as important. It was because of this incarnation that he had Rose to begin with and that alone made John worth having around his head. The Doctor was removed from his thoughts when he noticed the area around them becoming more distorted, followed by load noises and shuffling coming from an old fashion rotary phone at the table next to John. The phone itself was sitting on what looked like a table made from a vortex. It was a very odd sight and hard to describe even looking at it. Perhaps John had not noticed it simply because it was too much for a human mind to wrap their mind around.

“What’s that?” Asked John looking at phone and the racket coming from it. He had not noticed it until now. The Ninth Doctor picked up the phone, fascinated, and in a concerned voice said,

“It’s our mind’s representation of our ears. The vortex itself, a portal to viewing the waking world. But our mind isn’t done recovering yet. As you can see from all the redecorating in this memory alone. It’d be dangerous and a health risk to wake up before hand. Anyway, it’s the outside world, you’re hearing. For now we can at least hear what’s going on...” Then there was screaming on the phone, more importantly the distinct screaming of Rose! All of the men in the room jumped at the sound of Rose in distress, but did not know what to do. The Doctor’s head was too badly hurting to think straight from the sudden stress of the situation and John was just a human and barely understood anything at all about the Time Lord brain he now resided in. He looked to his other selves with pleading eyes for them to think of something to do.

“Save our wife!” Shouted John to The Doctors. They were supposed to be the big superior Time Lords with intelligence that he could never hope to have. So why couldn’t they use their thick head and find a way to save Rose?

“Doctor, wake up!” Begged Rose to the sleeping man on her bed, who seemed oblivious of the noise around him. Or that everyone in this room was going to be dead in a few minutes. This was no time to be sleeping! Rose needed her husband, right now! She needed him to wake up and protect her…their family! Rose shook the mattress to no avail and began to think of what else to do. What was it The Doctor would need to help? His Sonic! The Sonic Screwdriver could fix any problem! Jackie and Mickey did their best to keep the door closed by pushing a wooden wardrobe in front of it, but were starting to see how futile their efforts were. Rose on the other hand ran to The Doctor’s leather jacket that was hanging on the wall and reached into the pocket where she knew the precious device would be. Then as quick as a rabbit, Rose put it in The Doctor's hand just as the tree smashed through the door. The force of the tree bursting through the door threw her back against the wall. Fortunately she was not thrown too hard and was sure that her passenger was unharmed, but then her mind raced back to the menacing tree. Rose was petrified and looking from the tree to The Doctor. Waiting for him to wake up and save her, save them all, at least save the baby!  
  


“I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!” Screech Jackie pathetically at her cruel fate. Who would have thought that the thing that had filled her heart with warmth and joy every year at Christmas since childhood would be her undoing? 

The tree was now practically on top of them and they were about to be cut to pieces by the whirling tinsel covered nightmare of a tree. Nothing else, not even screams or the loud noise the tree was making, not unlike a chainsaw, seemed to wake The Doctor. This thing was going to kill her, her family and her unborn child too, while The Doctor slept. In the same room as this massacre was about to take place in. Rose desperately clung to the bed where The Doctor lay and putting her mouth as close as she could to his ear she spoke into it softly. She spoke as she would whenever she had tried to wake him up in the morning when he was human, but with considerably more urgency in her voice. She prayed that something inside this man’s head would respond to the familiar treatment.  
  
  


“Help us.” Whispered Rose to the man who was supposed to be her mate, begging for him to wake and save his wife and child.

The three males inside The Doctor’s head heard Rose’s plea for help and the leather clad Doctor, driven by the urge to protect his mate at all cost, did the only thing he could do. He could not go and save Rose, his time had passed, he was an echo, but his daft, half mental, recovering self could. That table was in theory a path to the waking world and a path to help Rose.

“Rose!” Shouted the leather wearing Doctor and he got a fantastic idea. Grabbing the surprised and new Doctor by his collar, the cropped hair Doctor tossed his new self over his shoulder, head first, into the vortex like one might toss a sack of potatoes. ‘Damn the consequences or damage it would do to his, their recovery.’ He thought as he felt himself waking up.

“Save our Rose!” He ordered with a voice like thunder. It seemed like it had taken minutes to take action in The Doctor’s head but really it was more like a few seconds in the real world. No sooner had Rose made her plea, then The Doctor suddenly sat up in Rose’s bed and aimed the screwdriver at the deadly tree causing it to explode and then practically vaporize into nothing. Every human in the room let out a collective sigh of relief at the sudden quiet and peaceful normalcy that had returned to the flat. 

The Doctor was awake, his former self’s plan, although risky and obviously fueled more by passion then well thought out conclusions had done the job. He could protect his family again. He just had to find out who was threatening them and put a stop to it right away. Protecting Rose and his family was important above all other things at this moment, even his own health he was risking when he cleverly figured out how to wake up.  
  


“Remote control. But who's controlling it?” Declared The Doctor intrigued as he hopped out of Rose’s very nicely smelling bed. The Doctor couldn’t help but notice in his new body his sense of smell and taste appeared to be much better than in his last form. As he threw on a dressing gown he saw hanging from a peg in the hallway. He was still having trouble regulating his body temperature and the warmth of the robe was actually welcomed and needed.

Dressing gown on, The Doctor led the trio of humans out on to the balcony at the front of the building and looked down onto the ground. Three Santa's gazed up, one holding a radio controller and watching The Doctor silently. Rose, though knowing that they were still probably in danger, could not take her eyes off The Doctor and desperately watched his every move for signs of familiarity, and mannerisms that were unmistakably Doctory. He'd rescued them, that was very Doctory. She also wondered what he was going to do next. As unpredictable as The Doctor could be, she was getting good at guessing what he would do next. This Doctor she had not a clue what he would do. And quite frankly the sooner they sorted out these Santas the quicker she could start having a conversation with the man in front of her. At a reasonable distance because now that he was awake she had to admit that she was a little afraid of him and the unknown that he was now wrapped in.  
  


“That's them. What are they?” Asked Mickey as he pointed to their enemy below at street level, but Rose silenced him. She pointed to The Doctor and hinted for him to watch what The Doctor would do. The Doctor aimed the screwdriver at the Santas and they thankfully backed away. Then they all seemed to be beamed away, hopefully to never return. Mickey let out a sigh of relief and grinning he said,   
  


“They've just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off.” The Doctor did not seem relieved or at ease at all now that the threatening Santas were gone.  
  


“Pilot fish.” Said The Doctor in a serious voice. This seemed like a very random thing to say and Rose was once again worried that The Doctor was not in his right mind.   
  


“What?” She asked of The Doctor.   
  


“They were just pilot fish.” Clarified The Doctor who then fell over in pain, slumped up against the wall and slid down to the floor. The Doctor moaned and hissed in unbelievable pain and Rose, despite the misgivings she should be having, instinctually pulled herself close to him and in a very worried voice asked,   
  


“What's wrong?” The Doctor began panting as if he were having trouble breathing or keeping his lunch down or both. The Doctor broke out into a sweat, something Rose had never seen The Doctor do ever. She felt his clammy hand, which she never remembered being clammy before as The Doctor, and listened to him choke out,   
  


“You woke me up too soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy.” And to make his point he exhaled the golden energy from his mouth once more. Rose stared at the familiar waft of energy and was very worried.  
  


“You see? The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away. So they eliminate the defense, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of OW!” Declared The Doctor, he then doubled over in pain again and fell to the other side of the balcony. He leaned on the guard rails as the three humans gathered around him literally and metaphorically clinging to him and his words. Jackie cried out in surprise and concern for The Doctor and tried to help steady him as Rose looked on, her heart aching with worry from not knowing what to do to help The Doctor.  
  


“My head! I'm having a neuron implosion. I need…” Explained The Doctor, knowing exactly what he needed to treat this rather serious condition that was the equivalent of a really bad human migraine, but was interrupted by Jackie.   
  


“What do you need?” Asked Jackie beginning to ramble on in a panic, while The Doctor just tried to spit out what he needed between the few moments that Jackie would pause in talking. If she would just shut up for a few moments more he could concentrate long enough for him to get out what he needed.   
  


“Painkillers? Do you need aspirin? Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I don't know, Pepto-Bismol? Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?” Asked Jackie rambling off all the pills that she could think of while The Doctor tried continually to get out the information.   
  
  


“I need…” Stuttered The Doctor only to have his annoying mother-in-law interrupt him yet again!

“Is it food? Something simple. Bowl of soup. A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?” Quested Jackie bordering on hysterics. Finally having enough of Jackie’s motor mouth he shouted,  
  


“I need you to shut up.” Jackie who felt that she was just trying to help was quite affronted and turning to her daughter and Mickey said rather miffed,

“Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?” The Doctor had another burst of regenerative energy and flung himself against the wall outside Jackie’s flat. He then hissed in pain and once more slid half way to the ground. Rose rushed to his side and helped steady him on his feet.  
  


“We haven't got much time. If there's pilot fish, then…” The Doctor tried to explain but when he felt a weight in his pocket and reaching in retrieved an apple. Perplexed he asked,

“Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?” As if it were the strangest thing he had seen today. Was it some kind of human custom that had slipped past his notice all these years? Jackie solved the mystery by explaining to The Doctor that it was Howards and she was sorry about that. She didn’t realize that it was in there.   
  


“He keeps apples in his dressing gown?” Asked The Doctor very confused as to the motive. Jackie told The Doctor that Howard gets hungry, to which The Doctor asked if he really got hungry in his sleep.   
  


“Sometimes.” Was all Jackie could give as an explanation. Unfortunately this distraction had eaten away at almost all the time The Doctor had left before he would have to slip back into his healing coma. Feeling another stab of pain he slumped down to the ground. He tried to hold on to consciousness and fight off his brain’s desire to slip away from the waking world, but it was not good. The pain was too great and he could barely see straight now.

“Argh! Brain collapsing!” Sputtered The Doctor. Needing to warn Rose, The Doctor turned to her and was greeted by scared and staring eyes. He didn’t have time to worry about that though he needed to tell Rose what to do. Rose did not say a word but only listen to the sweating crazed looking man.  
  


“The pilot fish. The pilot fish mean that something, something, something is coming.” The Doctor then passed out. If Rose had to go through anymore of this her heart was going to break she thought as she tried to wake up The Doctor. But it was no use, he was out cold again. There was nothing to it but to take him back to bed.

John stared at the Time Lord once more in his study but on the floor passed out.

“You’ve got to mend your mind Doctor or we won’t get anywhere fast. It’s bad enough that we are here like this as it is.” said John to the unconscious Doctor. The Time Lord’s former self then walked up to the passed out brown haired man and turned him over so that he was on his back.

“I can’t believe I wasted my time talking about bloody apples with Jackie Tyler. Guess I’m getting senile in my old age.” Said the leather clad Doctor. He then grabbed the pretty boy and placed him on the settee.

“All we can do now is sit, wait and listen.” Said John as he took his place again next to the phone.

Rose’s heart was breaking just listening to The Doctor suffer. She got one last look at his left hand still wearing the wedding band that she had given to John, before she tucked his arm under the covers. Was it really the same man wearing that ring as before? Before he had at least been peacefully sleeping but now he was in so much pain. He shivered and shook seeming to be unable to regulate his body temperature. One moment he would be burning up with a fever the other he would have the chills. Rose had gone to the bathroom and had come back with a bowl of cool water and a soft rag. After soaking and ringing the rag, Rose began to mop his brow trying to help with sweat and keep him cool. 

Rose was right up next to him on the mattress and whispered comforting words to him as she stroked his brow, which seemed to help calm him for a little bit. His problem keeping a proper temperature was not his only issue. Rose had taken the stethoscope to his chest again and much to her horror, only one of his hearts seemed to be working now. Rose was now thankful for that redundant organ which had, in the past, so strictly defined their differences. Otherwise The Doctor would be dead. But what if that heart stopped working too? She could lose The Doctor before she even knew who it was she was losing. 

Rose felt so inadequate to help him. She knew next to nothing about his physiology and had little understanding of the nature of Time Lords during regeneration. Even if this body was still a Time Lord’s and The Doctor, she did not know what was inside anymore. Was it really her Doctor or wasn’t it? The uncertainty was eating her alive. Was what was left of The Doctor that she had spoken to earlier in the day, before he went crazy, being slowly eaten away? Did regeneration mean slowly and painfully becoming someone different and leaving everything about yourself before behind? It was starting to feel that way. Nothing had reminded her of The Doctor's typical mannerisms for a while now, except that he had managed to wake up long enough to save them. Rose could not prove who it was inside this body seemingly dying on the bed, but for that sake that this could very well be her husband dying on this bed, she paid the man every attention. She even stroked his sideburns with the back of her finger because it seemed to help sooth him a little. He even leaned into her touch through the pain. Rose rested her head just above his on top of the many pillows they had placed under his head.

“We need you, Doctor.” Whispered Rose hoping that somewhere in there The Doctor could hear her plea for her husband to come back and be with her and their child.

Mickey at the moment had returned to the flat with his laptop only to be greeted with the sight of Rose being an ever attentive and caring spouse to a man who looked like a stranger to him. He didn’t understand it, that man was probably dying and still he envied the tender affections that Rose was bestowing on the suffering man. Mickey went into the living room to set up his laptop with Jackie’s permission to use the phone line. Mickey as well as everyone else in the Tyler flat wanted to know if they could find any clue as to what The Doctor had meant by pilot fish. 

The Set up of Mickey’s computer had not taken long, and Rose seeing that there was nothing left for her to do for The Doctor, other than hover over his bed and watch him suffer, went into the living room to join her mother and friend. Jackie looked at the clock on her wall and then sadly to her daughter. This was probably one of the least merry Christmases that this family had had since the year Pete had died. The flat was trashed, her daughter’s husband was ill and The Doctor’s grim prediction of more trouble to come hung over the flat like a knife just about to come down. Rose was nervously playing with her hair as Jackie did the only thing she could to help comfort her daughter. Give her a cup of tea.  
  


“It's midnight. Christmas day. Any change?” Asked Jackie, hopeful that Rose’s alien husband would wake up a fix everything. Rose let out a sigh and plainly replied,   
  


“He's worse. Just one heart beating.” Rose wanted to cry but her emotions were so confused and so many at the moment that she couldn’t fix on one long enough to display an emotion other than numb. Jackie then handed Rose some biscuits and instructed Rose to eat them.

“Oh Rose, please remember to eat. You haven’t had a thing to eat in hours and it’s not good for the little one.” Rose took the food and starting eating not because she was hungry, she was too depressed for that, but her mother was right. She had yet another member of the family to take care of too. Rose wondered how great a mother she was going to be if she could so easily forget to do something as simple as eating for two. But to be fair it was an eventful day and it just seemed that crisis after crisis kept coming at her. Who would have time to eat?

'Been a very stressful baby reveal day.' Though Rose exhaustedly.

Rose then took a sip of tea and sat down to watch the news with her mother. They were keeping an eye out for something in the media, but unfortunately because The Doctor had gone back to sleep, they had little idea what. The reporter on the television was talking about how the Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. Rose remembered hearing about that earlier but didn’t realize that there had been trouble communicating with it. Rose figured that someone had probably pushed the wrong button that had cost a whole load of scientists their holiday this year.

\-------------

Rose remembered once that The Doctor had taken her on a trip to see one of the major nonlethal Mars disasters of humanity in 1998. The Doctor had set up lawn chairs and a picnic on Mars’ surface for them to ‘watch the show’ known as the Mars Climate orbiter. Rose had been wary to walk out onto the surface of Mars in just her regular street clothes and one of The Doctor's Jumpers, but he had assured her that there existed a small pocket of life supporting barrier around the TARDIS that would keep them safe. It was only if they wanted to venture further on the Red Planet that they would need some space suits. So here she was looking up from the surface of Mars, sipping on sun tea, made earlier in the light of an alien sun, waiting for her species' brightest to goof up big time. Half of her had wanted to feel sorry for the people running this doomed experiment, but the other half couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of watching a sophisticated and expensive Mars probe incorrectly enter the upper atmosphere of Mars and disintegrate.

The Doctor explained to Rose, what was going to happen as they had set up the chairs. It seemed that this particular space disaster was going to happen simply because of engineering error.

“Specifically, the flight system software was written to take thrust instructions using metric units, while the software on the ground that generated those instructions used Imperial units. It was a costly mistake that apparently made NASA really want to work towards doing things on the cheap from then on. I think it’s good to have a sense of humor and a laugh at your mistakes. Don't you?” The Doctor had mused as he sat back to watch mankind bumble its way to the stars. 

Rose thought that The Doctor should take his own advice since whenever he screwed up and Rose tried to take the superior Time Lord down a peg, he was often grouchy. Rose sat herself down on the surprisingly comfy lawn chair and kicked up some red dirt on the ground. She continued to marveled at the TARDIS’ ability to shield them on a hostile surface like Mars so that she could walk out in just her street clothing. A few minutes later of eating and The Doctor had pointed skyward and they had watched a ‘human blunder’. It was a shame that humanity had had to lose such an expensive probe for that reason, but still it had at least looked really pretty as it burned up.

\------------------------------

The News anchor had gone on about pictures from the surface of Mars being transmitted soon, but Rose didn’t really care. All that remembering of happier times spent with The Doctor had made her more depressed. The News show then cut to some mousy looking bald man with a beard talking more about being back on schedule while reporters asked about technical issues and why they had lost contact with the probe earlier. The man was more than happy to assure that all was well now before going off to get back to work on the project.   
  


“Here we go, pilot fish. Scavengers, like The Doctor said. Harmless. They're tiny. But the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish.” Explained Mickey to Rose as they watched a video online about pilot fish that Mickey had looked up. He wanted to know more about the semi-cryptic remark The Doctor had made before he passed out again. Rose had asked if Mickey was referring to something like a shark to which Mickey answered the affirmative.  
  


“Great big sharks. So, what The Doctor means is, we had them, now we get that.” Said Mickey pointing to a menacing Shark. Rose was now very worried for the Earth and pondered how close this bigger meaner thing could be. Mickey had to admit that he did not know but since pilot fish never strayed too far from the big fish, he had to assume that whatever was coming was closer to them than they’d like it to be.  
  


“Something is coming.” Said Rose as she parroted what The Doctor had said earlier in such an eerie voice. She could feel it in her bones that they were in deep trouble.

“Funny sort of rocks.” Noted Jackie as she watched the live feed, supposedly, being transmitted from the surface of Mars. The news man seemed excited, but Rose on the other hand was not.  
  


“That's not rocks.” Stated Rose with worry on her voice. The Newsreader kept on talking until it became clear to him as it was to Rose and any other viewer with half a brain that the video feed was not of rocks, but a red-eyed ugly alien with a head like a goat's skull. It growled and gurgled at the screen making everyone watching ill at ease. Once the newsreader had got his wits about him he made sure to announce that this unique news report was made by his news channel and network. Throughout the Earth other media networks were reporting on the alien encounter and speculating what was to happen next. Did this mean good news or bad news for humanity? All of humanity was wondering this, but Rose Tyler Smith and the rest of the occupants of the Tyler home knew that this meant trouble.   
  


“Rose. Take a look. I've got access to the military. They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way.” Rose drew her worried eyes away from the Television and ran over to where Mickey was sitting at his laptop. Rose did not like this one bit. If the last bunch of aliens were hostile to them, it wasn’t much of a stretch to suspect these ones of something equally sinister.  
  


“Coming for what, though? The Doctor?” Asked Rose make a quick glance back to her childhood bedroom where The Doctor was out cold. His groans of pain could still be heard from the bedroom from time to time. They were not loud enough that Mickey or Jackie would hear them but Rose’s ear was so trained on the new man’s voice that she couldn’t help but catch every small noise he made. What were they to do? They couldn’t defend The Doctor against a Christmas tree. How were they to protect him from a spaceship full of advanced and most likely hostile aliens? Rose hugged her stomach, her protective instinct kicking in at the thought of danger approaching her family. This was certainly way too much stress on a new mother than should be expected. Rose’s thoughts although they seemed to take an hour were but the span of a few moments before Rose was drawn back into reality by Mickey answering her question.   
  


“I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us.” Said Mickey grimly and with very little optimism in his voice.  


Suddenly on Mickey’s laptop there was the clear image of four of the aliens that they had seen on the television moments ago. One began speaking some kind of gibberish that Rose could not understand which was very unusual since she had been traveling with The Doctor for months without ever having a communication problem with any alien species…And she had met aliens with three sets of mouths that talked three sets of different conversations at once! That she had no trouble following! Mickey was clueless as to what these creatures were. He had only ever seen the big bog monster aliens before and hoped that Rose in all her travels would recognize them.

“Have you seen them before?” He asked hopeful. Rose had to reply the negative, she had never seen these creepy and imposing aliens before.

“I don't understand what they're saying. The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am.” Stated Rose plainly her voice sounding more and more upset. This was of great concern. If the TARDIS could no longer translate languages for her than The Doctor’s condition was worse than Rose had suspected.   
  


“So, why isn't it doing it now?” questioned Mickey.   
  


“I don't know. Must be The Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's, he's broken.” Mourned Rose as she turned her head towards her old room. What had happened to her Time Lord? Why was this happening to him now when he was needed the most? Rose’s thoughts went back to her leather clad Time Lord with cropped hair and she would give anything to see that man walk out of that room and tell her that everything was under control and he’d have it all sorted before tea. And then in her perfect world they would then start discussing about making plans for the baby and who knows, they might even start baby proofing the TARDIS. But that man, strong, brave and proven, who had weathered every storm and came out on top, was gone now. And this new person, new man, this stranger, an untested wildcard was all that the world had left to help them now. And he was broken. Rose felt dread for her family if things continued in this manner.

**“** Despite claims of an alien hoax, it's been reported that NATO forces are on red alert.” Announced an American news reporter on the television. It had been two hours and already the world seemed to be in a hysterical panic. Noises of panicked Londoners outside and inside the building could be heard. It was Jackie’s turn to watch The Doctor and she couldn’t help her mothering instincts kicking in at the sight of the poor man suffering. He had wanted something earlier to make himself better and Jackie was feeling bad about wasting his time awake before. True she had been trying to help, but if she had not panicked and had just listened to him then The Doctor might have been feeling better by now, the aliens would be sorted, and Rose could have a much needed discussion with her husband. If only she would get two words out of him, she could get him what he needed.  
  


“Oh, come on, sweetheart. What do you need? What is it you need? Tell me.” Asked Jackie of the Time Lord soothingly as he continued to shiver and moan in pain. Jackie tried to be diligent in her watch on the Doctor, but it was late or rather early and after all the excitement, Jackie needed sleep and reluctantly her eyes began to droop and she rested her head on the side of the mattress that The Doctor was sleeping on. Only one thing graced her thoughts before she fell asleep,

‘Get up and take care of my daughter and grandbaby, ya daft alien.’

Rose had managed some light dozing on the couch in front of the television, but she had set her wrist watch timer and it was now her turn to watch after The Doctor. It was dawn and looking at the television, she saw that in the time she had been asleep the world had not gotten any calmer and with a sinking feeling she heard the news reader speak more about how this was the Earth’s darkest hours and speculations were running wild as to the fate of the Earth once our ‘guests’ arrived. Rose looked to the other end of the couch and saw Mickey had also been awaken by the sound of her watch. She gestured an apology but he waved it off and the two went to check on The Doctor. Rose went to her room and the only change in the room was Jackie was asleep. The Doctor did not seem to be any better. She observed The Doctor for a bit longer, lying there dead to the world and Rose found herself at her wits end. She couldn’t take the uncertainty, worry and dread of what was in store for the Earth and her own family anymore. Rose was very close to flat out braking down.

“The Doctor wouldn't do this. The old Doctor, the proper Doctor, he'd wake up. He'd save us.” Mourned Rose trying to keep it together. 

  
“You really love him, don't you?” Asked Mickey solemnly finally acknowledging his defeat as he gave Rose a hug for support. Well she had initiated the hug, but she wasn’t hugging him as a lover would but as a friend would at such a devastating situation. He didn’t know why he had held on to any hope of ever winning Rose back. The baby should have been the final nail in that coffin. Still, for all the pain that he had felt in relation with this woman, he still could not stand to see her upset. There would be no one else for Rose but The Doctor. Rose and Mickey’s moment however was interrupted by clear voice of her mother’s neighbor Sandra outside the flat near the railings. Worried for the neighbor woman, whom Rose was fond of, she poked her head outside just as Sandra and her husband were passing the door. 

  
  


“What is wrong with you? Jason? Jason?” Cried out Sandra to her blank faced husband. Mickey was close behind Rose as she ran up to the upset woman.  
  
  


“Sandra?” Asked Rose wondering what was going on so early in the morning on Christmas day of all days. Sandra, happy to finally have help, or at least someone to help her figure out what was going on,

“He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop.” Cried out Sandra not knowing what to do to help her spouse. Sandra went off following her husband and Rose and Mickey looked over the railing to see lots of people walking through the estate and seemingly heading to higher ground. Rose had yet another sinking feeling of what was going on as she followed Sandra following her husband up to the roof. Rose and Mickey’s suspicions were correct for some reason all of these people were heading to the roof and standing right on the edge. It looked very much like they were going to jump and there were so many people there was no way that they could save them all. Sandra herself was finding that her husband was fighting against every pull she made to pull him away from the edge of the building.

“Jason, I'm talking to you! Just stop!” Sandra cried as Rose and Mickey watched helplessly.   
  


“What do we do?” Implored Mickey of Rose, the wife of the supposed great saver of Earth. Rose looked around and was beside herself. The problem was on too big a scale for a little human like herself to ever tackle on her own. She was powerless and lost. She had no answers, no direction, no hope as to how to help this many people.  
  


“Nothing. There's no one to save us. Not anymore.” Said Rose in defeat, she had given up on The Doctor coming back to save them. The Earth was on its own, as was she and the baby. Not knowing what else to do Rose went back to her mother’s flat, all the while praying that The Doctor was showing some sign of progress. On the TV, Rose heard Harriet Jones making a plea to The Doctor to help save the Earth but she knew that he would not be coming and that the Earth’s cry for help would go unanswered. Rose went back to her room to The Doctor’s side. She too didn’t know what to do or how to help anyone. She needed The Doctor’s help and she choked back tears as she watched The Doctor continue to sleep when he was needed the most.  
  


\----------------------

“Really you’re bloody ironing your shirts, now?!” Questioned the leather clad Doctor indignantly. John put down his iron and glared at his doppelganger. He swore all this guy had going for him was good looks.

“Well what else do you want me to do? Pace like a caged animal, as you’re doing? It relaxes me and I’ve got not much else to do around here waiting for himself to get his head together.” Hissed John as he turned off his iron.

“Technically it’s your head too, so put that little human brain to use and try to help me thing of a faster way to fix this place so we can wake up. If sleeping cutie there had managed his time better, we could be protecting Rose!” Barked the shorn haired Doctor to John as he turned over the ironing board in frustration and chucked the iron through one of the fewer swirling vortexes about the house. John wondered how it was that this ‘person’ in front of him could be over 800 years his senior and still throw a fit like a child. It was impossible for him, the 41 year old human persona, to be the mature one, but there it was. 

“Well things must be getting a little better since our thoughts are merging a bit more with him.” Said John pointing at The Doctor asleep on the couch. 

“I’m starting to feel like I’m standing here talking to you and lying asleep on the couch too. Pretty soon we’ll be one mind again and not fractured pieces simulating various personalities. In spite of present company that is a good thing.” Noted John as he crossed his arms and stared down ‘himself’. 

John let out a sigh, he wished that he was a real being and not just this ghost of thoughts The Doctor once had as John. Or maybe he didn’t because then he’d have to watch yet again from his perspective another man get his wife. John knew it was silly to think that way even though he would eventually be the same person again and he was technically thinking for himself and then not at all as himself but as The Doctor. If he had consciousness any longer he was going to start understanding Time Lord confusing terminology for situations like these, because he would have become a Time Lord again. John also had a suspicion that this twin of his was feeling much the same, as he too would have to ‘step aside’ and yet not, for this other Doctor who was going to get to be with Rose and their child. He would have liked to have held his child as ‘John’ or at least been able to look forward to it as John, but he could not be selfish. This was about Rose and their child’s safety, and in order to do that they had to get better, fast, so he could wake up. The ninth incarnation of The Doctor grumbled knowing that this was true that things were improving, that progress was being made, but replied,

“But it’s not fast enough! Who knows what trouble is going on out there? Rose is counting on us to pull through and save the day.” Seeing that his double was still agitated, John thought that he might tease him to put some wind out of his sails. Throwing a fit wasn’t going to help get back to Rose any faster.

“I swear it’s like looking at the ‘bad boy’ biker version of myself. You even are in leather.” Said John rolling his eyes, as he much preferred clothing that breathed and with some colors to them. And that was when they over heard Rose’s voice and her words were heart wrenching to them.

Rose could take it no more, she had tried. Lord, how she had tried to be brave and remain calm, but she could do so no more and finally bursts into tears and wailed in complete and total loss. He wasn’t coming back. This was a different Doctor. Whoever he was now, he was not her Doctor. He had died and left her just as John had and she and her child were now very much on their own. Jackie hearing her daughter ran to her side as Rose leaned on the door frame to her bedroom for support. Her tears falling freely and painfully. She had to accept it out loud and grasping on to her mother Rose sobbed,

  
  


“He's gone. The Doctor's gone. He's left me, mum. He's left me, mum.” Rose should have known that it would end like this. The universe couldn’t have been kind enough to let her keep her husband and raise a family together too. She wished that she had not set herself up for so much disappointment, but humans were fed the idea of happy endings and happily-ever-afters so much, how could she not have planned on it all working out in the end. Especially once The Doctor had started warming up to the idea of the life they could have together. Or after finally having the guts to tell him that they were going to be a mummy and a daddy, despite all the biological odds against them. Having so much to gain from the future only made it all the more painful at its sudden loss. Jackie had to keep Rose from slumping to the floor as she tried to comfort her daughter. All she had ever wanted was for Rose to be happy. And even if they survived this new alien threat, Jackie knew that it would be a very long time, if ever, that Rose would be happy again. Jackie kissed her daughter on the head and soothed,  
  


“It's all right. I'm sorry.” Though Jackie knew things were anything but alright. It was however a good thing that they had all been away from the windows as suddenly, all the glass in the block of flats if not all over the city had shattered. This effectively got Jackie and Rose’s attentions as they realized that their extraterrestrial ‘guests’ had arrived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: Poor Rose, man I’ll be happy when we get to the next chapter and I can get to the really fun off scripting. John and the ninth Doctor seem to be butting heads, I think it’s because they are too much alike, heh. Though they love the same woman so doesn’t that make them on the same side? Tell me what you think about the chapter. Comments are always appreciated.


	4. Knight on a cup of White tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best part of waking up is thwarting a hostile alien invasion.

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens

** Chapter 4 – Knight on a cup of White tea **

Both men were silent as they heard Rose’s heart wrenching declaration to her mother. That was it. Rose had given up on him. They knew not what pained them more, the sound of Rose’s anguish from not being able to understand what regeneration meant or that Rose could lose faith in The Doctor. His sudden changes had been too much for her and she had lost hope in him that he would come back. The Doctor’s conscious personalities were feeling guilt and disappointment all at once. The leather clad Doctor had died for Rose, as willingly as Rose had been ready to die for him. ‘Didn’t that harbor more trust?’ The shorn haired Doctor wondered.

“I know what you are thinking, but keep in mind I barely understand any of this and I’m inside this bloody head. How is Rose to understand any of this? Talking to her will help, Rose will listen and she’ll get it, because she’s Rose.” Advised John. The leather Doctor was just spent, he’d been through so much, he was impatient to finally settle things with Rose, even though he personally wasn’t the personality who got to do it, and he had a baby on the way. His thoughts were so many and there was so much to do that it was torture to have to wait. This Time Lord generally hated waiting which was why he liked to skip to the good stuff, on the slow path was killing him. All he could do was just sit and watch his newly regenerated self passed out and hope they bloody woke up again soon.

The Sonic wave from the spaceship hitting the earth’s atmosphere had shattered every bit of glass. Rose, Jackie and Mickey crept up to the windows of the flat and looked out to the street below to see glass all over the place. Rose turned her head upward and saw that every windows on every building she could see was blown out too. It was amazing what goes through your head in just a moment when you are presented with a situation so surreal. Think about it, every window, gone. Rose wondered how many people had been injured by falling glass. All the panic and mayhem. Not to mention the price of damages to replace it all. All those priceless stain glass windows that The Doctor had loved looking at and showing her, partly because most of the famous ones he had had a hand in making. She even wondered if any animals at the London zoo were now on the loose too. Not even touched ground yet and already these aliens were proving to be costly and dangerous visitors. 

Rose and Mickey went down to ground level outside to get a better look at what had caused this trouble. As they stood amongst the glass shards near the TARDIS they saw what appeared to be this big floating powered rock, with nasty pointy bits in it, glide right overhead. It had to be as big as London and Rose felt very small and very helpless. She knew what was going to happen next. She had seen enough worlds and aliens. If she could not save the Earth by herself, then she could at least save her family. If there was to be an invasion then the safest place for them to wait it out and try to figure out what to do next was inside the TARDIS. She had shielding and a cloaking device built in to her, surely the TARDIS could keep them hidden. Not having a moment to lose as she feared an invasion was imminent, Rose raced back into the flat with her mother with Mickey in hot pursuit. 

“Mickey, we're going to carry him. Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going.” Commanded Rose as she ran into her room to collect the sleeping man on the bed.   
  


“Where to?” Asked Mickey in confusion. Rose was getting frustrated that the people around her were so slow on the uptake but she nicely and quickly explained,  
  


“The TARDIS. It's the only safe place on Earth.” Jackie did not like the TARDIS and the idea of going into that creepy ship was not a pleasant idea to her. She also didn’t understand what they could do in the TARDIS differently from what they were doing now in the flat. She also hoped that Rose wasn’t planning on taking that crazy box for a spin, since Rose had driven the TARDIS once before.  
  


“What're we going to do in there?” she questioned. Rose told her that they were going to hide as it was to her quite obvious. Jackie had thought that Rose had had some kind of plan, but was that it? Just hide?  
  


“Is that it?” asked Jackie astonished. For all the time that Rose had travelled with The Doctor, Rose had always seemed to be running toward danger, not hiding from it.   
  


“Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion and I don't know what to do, all right? I've travelled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now, move. Oh, lift him up.” Rose declared in a speeding voice as she tried to lift The Doctor from the bed. It wasn’t helping that the man was completely dead weight and not helping her at all in getting up. Rose was sure she would throw out her back as Mickey grabbed for The Doctor’s legs. The Doctor began to shiver some more and concerned for the man, Rose leaned the sleeping man over onto Mickey and grabbed for the dressing gown he had been wearing earlier. While Rose was dressing The Doctor for the elements, Jackie was already in the Kitchen gathering as many supplies as she could for an undisclosed amount of time in the blue box.

Rose and Mickey started carrying The Doctor out of the flat. He was not light and Rose had to choke up her grip on him several times as they brought him down the narrow balcony. Mickey saw how much that Rose was struggling and wanted to voice his disapproval.

“You shouldn’t be liftin’ im in your condition, Rose.” Said Mickey worried for Rose and her baby. Rose was in no mood to be wrapped up in cotton wool simply because of her being pregnant. She was more than capable of doing this right now. 

“I’m fine Mickey, I’m not far along enough for this to be a problem. Besides you can’t carry him this far and down the stairs all on your own. If we distribute the weight evenly then it’s no more of a chore than lifting groceries.” Declared Rose as she chocked up her hold on The Doctor’s arms yet again. However, Rose was indeed very tired, and the thought of carrying the Doctor down all those stairs seemed like an impossible task. Heck technically she was helping to carry two people. If her mother were to help then they probably would be in the TARDIS in five minutes.

Jackie also was struggling with weight as she carried half a dozen carrier bags full of provisions. Rose looked back at her mother struggling and now very impatient to get them all out of harm’s way shouted at her in a panicked voice,

  
  


“Mum, will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand?” Growled Rose, very frustrated that her mother was taking everything but the kitchen sink with them at this point.   
  


“It's food! You said we need food.” Barked Jackie back, just about fed up with her impatient daughter.   
  


“Just leave it!” Shouted Rose as they continued to carry The Doctor down the first flight of stairs. Jackie just shrugged and placed a few of the bags down, she could come back for them later she reasoned.

Jackie followed close behind the two Smiths as they entered the TARDIS and looked about the TARDIS apprehensively before moving to place down her bags. She then began to shuffle through the bags and Mickey and Rose started talking. 

“No chance you could fly this thing?” Asked Mickey has he helped carry The Doctor through the TARDIS doors. If things were going to go south in London, then he wouldn’t mind if Rose could fly them to Australia to hide out. As he still thought that a wooden blue box sitting in the Powell Estate, no matter how alien, wasn’t the ideal place to be.   
  


“Not anymore, no.” Answered Rose plainly as she helped carried The Doctor over to the console.   
  


“Well, you did it before.” Noted Mickey, not seeing how she could forget so easily, since she seemed to have done it so well the last time.   
  


“I know, but it's sort of been wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden. Try that again and I think the Universe rips in half.” Answered Rose wondering how that information had been implanted in her head. She then helped gently place the sleeping man on the grating beside the TARDIS console. It was weird she tried to remember how to do things on the console to fly the TARDIS but it was like a wall was in the way and all she could remember was just The Doctor telling her to pull this lever and that switch without explaining the why. What was also weird was that she could not feel the warm presence of the TARDIS like she usually could. Without The Doctor it was lonely empty and feeling very lifeless inside the time and spaceship. It only made Rose long for her Doctor all the more and yet another reminder that the TARDIS and The Doctor were broken possibly beyond repair.  
  


“Ah, better not, then.” Said Mickey a little nervous, he liked the universe and didn’t want to see it ripped apart.   
  


“Maybe not.” Said Rose sarcastically in return.   
  


“So, what do we do? Just sit here?” Asked Mickey, only to be answered by a groaning Rose as she leaned back against the TARDIS console and declared,   
  


“That's as good as it gets.” She didn’t know what Mickey was complaining about. She had no plan but she was at the very least providing him with the safest haven on Earth at the moment. Rose was angry that she was so powerless, angry at The Doctor for leaving her and angry that there was nothing she could do about it. Jackie wanting to lift the grim mood pulled out a thermos of tea and announced,  
  


“Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea.” Rose just rolled her eyes. There was an alien invasion going on outside and her mother’s best solution was a tea party.  
  
  


“Mmm, the solution to everything.” Replied Rose sarcastically. Jackie wasn’t going to take any lip from her daughter and snipped back,  
  


“Now, stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food.” Jackie handed the thermos off to Mickey and then stepped out of the TARDIS to grab the remaining bags that she had dropped outside the flat earlier. 

Rose brought her eyes back down to the sleeping man and couldn’t help a new rush of worry. Was she doing the right thing? Had she done everything that could be done to help the man at her feet? Would they even be safe in the TARDIS? She knew that it had had a shield put on it during battle with the Daleks, but was it even turned on or still working now. She wondered what The Doctor would do in this situation, but she was drawing a blank. The Doctor wouldn’t be stuck here like this he would know what to do and would actually know what all of this tech in this spaceship that she called her home did. She felt ever much the pretender. There was nothing special about her. She was just a primitive human who had been riding on the coattails of an alien a million years more advanced than her. Without The Doctor she didn't fell at all fantastic...she just felt like a big stupid ape phony. A failure who was fighting above her weight class in a game meant for advanced alien. 

Mickey smirked to himself. If there was one thing that the Tyler family was good at it was arguing with amusing results. Still wish he'd been there to see The Doctor get decked by Jackie and now at a time like this the two woman had been arguing over tea. It was almost enough to put in a less grim mood. Wanting to lighten the mood he decided to light heartedly joke about it.   
  
  


“Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British.” Declared Mickey, who was now holding the thermos of tea. He turned to her and saw that Rose was barely paying attention and staring at the man now on the floor. Trying to distract Rose, Mickey then decided to change the subject and piped up about the first thing he saw.

“How does this thing work?” Asked Mickey as he pointed to the monitor on the TARDIS console,

“If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?” Said Mickey trying to keep down the mood of helplessness that Rose was emitting. If they could at least know what was going on then they could set about what to do next. Maybe…well it was worth a shot.  
  


“I don't know. It sort of tunes itself.” Declared Rose in an annoyed voice, as she tried to tune the monitor in, it was usually easy to do. Rose turned knobs and flicked buttons feeling a great emptiness in her head as she tried to recover basic information from the TARDIS monitors, only to get more swirling runes she couldn’t read.

As the two humans were observing the screen on the console they were unaware that by activating it, they had made their presence known to the very alien threat that they were hiding from. But although Mickey and Rose were unaware of this fact, to Jackie it was made amazingly clear. Jackie upon gathering up the last of her provisions for hiding out in the TARDIS noticed a strange blue light surround the TARDIS. She wondered vaguely if that was some normal alien thing the TARDIS did, but she couldn’t remember seeing it happen before. Then the TARDIS seemed to fade out and shoot up in the direction of the alien ship over head. It took her a minute to realized what had happened and now as she helplessly cried out for her daughter, she could only imagine where the spaceship carrying her daughter had gone and what new danger her only child and grandbaby were now facing.

Still there were only odd pattern on the scanner of the TARDIS console and Mickey and Rose had no clue what it meant or said. Rose was very miffed since usually the TARDIS translated for her everything, well most things. But again that was a reminder that everything had gone to hell in a flaming hand basket and that the Earth, her and her family’s future remained uncertain. Once more crushing loss and uncertainty pushed down on her until she felt as if her soul had been smooshed down all the way to her soles.   
  


“Maybe it's a distress signal.” Suggested Mickey as he looked over the odd Galifreyan runes on the screen.   
  


“A fat lot of good that's going to do, this is the last TARDIS and that on the ground there is the Last Time Lord. There is no one out there to help.” Snarked Rose.  
  


“Are you going to be a misery all the time?” Hissed Mickey very fed up with Rose’s attitude. He was only trying to help and she was well, starting to act like The Doctor did whenever The Doctor had talked to him. Rose probably had been around ‘old big ears’ for too long. If and when sleeping beauty on the floor ever woke up, Mickey wondered how much of an ass he was going to be too.   
  


“Yes. Pregnant and a misery. Wanna try messing with those hormones?” Grumbled Rose back to Mickey, they were both at their wits end and with the ever rising stakes and pressure the two were short tempered to say the least. Mickey wanted to bring the conversation back to some semblance of civil, so in an attempt to do so, Mickey tried once again to use humor.   
  


“You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking.” He joked a bit nervously as he wasn’t sure how much Rose was in the mood to have jabs taken at her mother’s culinary skills. Though both Rose and Mickey knew that it was a fact that all Jackie could get right in the kitchen was tea. But Rose did not bite his head off. To his relief, it did seem to lighten the mood and she relaxed some. However, all that talk of Jackie only made Rose wonder what was keeping her mother when there was an alien attack about to begin any minute.  
  


“Where is she? I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there.” Said Rose in a snarky voice as she walked past the sleeping Time Lord.  
  


“Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine.” Called Mickey after Rose. Rose was always amazed by how scared the men in her life were of her mother. She really wondered if she had been raised by a human being in their eyes or a big she-wolf. More like a grizzly bear. This sort of put her in a better mood enough to tease Mickey a little.   
  


“Why don't you tell her yourself?” Rose called out in a jeering voice as she walked to the TARDIS doors. Mickey was sure that the only thing on this planet that was safe from the wrath of Jackie Tyler was Rose. Mickey walked a bit closer to where The Doctor was lying and jokingly replied that he was not that brave.   
  


“Oh, I don't know.” Smiled Rose as she opened the TARDIS door, Mickey was a lot braver than he gave himself credit for. That was for sure. After all he had faced off with aliens before too. Rose then stepped outside of the TARDIS only to be grabbed by a Sycorax as soon as she closed the door. Once she realized what was happening, as the change in scenery had confused her, she screamed bloody murder. Mickey, even through the closed doors, heard this and in concern called out to her. He then ran to her as if the ground beneath him was on fire.. Forgetting about anything else, Mickey dropped the open container of tea he had been holding on the floor. He had dropped it so very near where The Doctor was lying he had very nearly scalded the unconscious man with the hot liquid.

Outside the TARDIS Mickey found a very alien environment and definitely not the Powell Estate.

“Get off! Get off me!” Mickey heard Rose screech and saw that she was being roughly led away from the TARDIS by those goat skull aliens. Rose turned back at the sound of Mickey’s shouts and realizing that Mickey had left the TARDIS door open.  
  
  


“The door! Close the door!” Shouted Rose, knowing that even though she was in danger she could not risk them getting at the man inside or the technology that the TARDIS had to offer a more advanced civilization. Mickey ran back and managed to get there and close the door of the TARDIS just before a goat skull alien was able to grab him. A small victory at least.

The tea that Mickey had dropped was dripping down onto TARDIS workings underneath the time console and caused it to smoke and spark. All the while the aliens called Sycorax cheered that they had captured the alien technology that the foolish humans thought that they could hide from them. Rose was dragged to the middle of what looked like an amphitheater pit and looked about to see thousands of hostile alien. They were not very gentle with her at all and several times Rose had to turn away from her captors to avoid them slamming her in the gut. It was then that Rose spotted, strangely enough, a very familiar face. Harriet Jones, along with another young man with dark hair holding some bit of tech. Jones spotted Rose too and was looking at her as if she were her salvation. Practically throwing herself at Rose she pulled the blond into a hug,  
  


“Rose. Rose! I've got you. My Lord. Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor, is he with you?” She begged Rose as she held her close. Rose hugged Harriet, very happy to have the comfort while she stared in horror at the scary aliens surrounding her. She knew what Harriet was hoping her presence meant and she was devastated that she could not deliver on that hope. The man that had saved the two of them the last time was no more and with a heavy heart Rose relayed the grim news to Harriet.   
  


“No. We're on our own.” Rose stated trying not to shake as the words hit her just as hard. Tea vapors were now rising through the floor grating and The Doctor was breathing them in, while exhaling more golden energy. He was rapidly improving.

\------------------------

After it had been made known via the vortex that Rose had lost hope that The Doctor would return to her, the vigil around The Doctor in John Smith’s Study had been a gloomy affair indeed. They realized that this was an unusual circumstance, but they had hoped that it would not have weighed on Rose this way. It had broken Rose, the regeneration. How ironic since it had been done as a result of saving Rose and to save The Doctor from death. The two twin looking men watched their counterpart who began to suddenly twitch after hours it seemed of doing nothing. That was when everything started to change.

“What’s going on?” Asked John as he looked about the room which was quickly starting to repair itself.

“Looks like we’ve finally got what we needed.” Beamed the cropped haired Doctor, relieved that they would finally be back in the waking world and able to do something useful than just lay around like a lump on a log. The Doctor lying on the settee finally was coming around and sat up looking at his two counterparts. Everything was as clear as day to him and his Time Lord brain was back in action and working in overdrive. The cropped haired Doctor was actually a bit taken aback by how much energy this new him had and also a bit put off by it. He was like a puppy on sugar the way the wild-haired Doctor was moving about the room planning. The Doctor turned to his old selves and made his ideas verbally known, although he did not have to, as they both were becoming the same person again and could read his thoughts. 

  
“Right, once thing set in order here, we’ll all just be memories again. I’m afraid that my memories only developed personalities and sentience out of necessity to aid in the preservation and recovery of my mind during a neural implosion. Sort of like an emergency backup to keep my past memories safe. Which I suppose is a good thing, but I don’t need a multiple personality disorder atop everything else that is wrong with me.” He stated to the room, not realizing what a rude statement that had been to his old selves. The cropped haired Doctor had his misgivings, hoping that this new him could get the job done, but it was him, so there was no hoping, he knew he could save the day. It was a fact, he just knew that this new him’s style of getting things done was probably going to take some getting used to. John had similar uneasiness but this person full of energy looked anything but useless and he even knew what he was thinking before he said it, proof to him that they were melding back into a fully functional mind again. John only had some advance to give the man who was him and protector of his Rose and currently growing family.

“Remember we are your past lives, don’t deny or fight us. Let’s work together. We make you stronger not weaker.” Said John Smith as he felt the waking world drawing closer. The shorn haired Doctor just crossed his arms and said,

“Oi, pretty boy. Don’t be anything less than fantastic to Rose, or I’ll find some way to punch you for it. She’s just upset but things can be turn around. Still The Doctor, still her Doctor, just a different face.” The Doctor nodded and then he felt the cold grating of the floor of the TARDIS Console room and sat up to see a thermos on the floor. He smiled.

Rose was scared near out of her wits and so was every human standing beside her. They were surrounded by hostile, and now Rose had learned from Harriet, murderous aliens, the Sycorax. Rose stood there with her feet planted on the ground and not moving anytime soon as she stared at who she assumed was the leader of these fearsome aliens. She kept her arms pinned to her sides, not daring to show any signs that she was with child, she didn’t want to give them something else to threaten her with. The leader began to hiss out some form of intimidating sounding alien language and she was wishing that The Doctor, her hero in leather were by her side. She could not understand what the leader was saying but then the dark haired man standing near her seemingly began to translate for them. Thank goodness for that at least. The man called Alex spoke as he read his translation device aloud,

“The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet.” Harriet was horrified that Rose, who she still viewed as a child should be put in such a spot, when she, as the Prime Minister, should be the only one to hold such a burden. She also knew the risk that Rose would be taking just addressing this murdering creature. Harriet had already watched helplessly as two of her own staff had been horribly murdered in front of her and she could not bear the idea of Rose as another pile of smoking bones on the dirty floor of this godforsaken flying hell hole.  
  


“But she can't.” Protested Harriet, trying to save Rose for as long as she could.   
  


“Yeah, I can.” Insisted Rose, but Mickey leaned forward and declared in a worried voice,   
  


“Don't you dare.”   
  


“Someone's got to be The Doctor.” Rose stated as she took her first step forward only to be held back by Harriet who warned,

  
“They'll kill you.” Rose was by no means suicidal, she had her baby to think of, but at the same time there was no other way out but to try to talk her way out of it. It’s what The Doctor would do. At least she thought that it was what he would do. With more bravery then she felt Rose replied to Harriet,   
  


“Never stopped him.” The Doctor was not here and she had to try and save the Earth, every human in this cave like ship, and her baby…no problem, yeah? She approached the Sycorax leader only to be greeted with its grim face and a wall of deafening roars from all the aliens above and around her. With a shaky tone Rose said in a voice that was barely worthy of public speaking,

“I, er, I address the Sycorax according to Article Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and er, the Gelth Confederacy as er, sanctioned by the Mighty Jagrafess and, oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! In peace...” Rose had tried her best and had sewn together every alien and authoritative sounding alien thing that she could remember The Doctor saying. The bit with the Shadow Proclaimation, she hoped sounded good but the rest she wasn’t so sure of. Her heart sank when her words brought about a loud burst of laughter from The Sycorax. Again she felt like a phony at world saving as she had meant to derive authority and not humor. Clearly what Rose was selling, they were not buying. The Sycorax leader began to talking again while menacingly pointing at Rose and Alex began to translate again.   
  


“You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die.” Alex said and every human heart in the room froze over. The Sycorax leader than pulled out his whip, that crackled with some alien power source. Harriet despaired, for she had seen earlier the horror of this primitive and violent looking weapon as it was used to kill her two staff members. 

“Leave her alone!” Shouted Harriet and Mickey in a similar fashion threatening the Sycorax,   
  


“Don't touch her!” He yelled trying to look as intimidating as possible. 

Horror-struck, over come with maternal instinct and the desire to not let another person die in front of her Harriet, along with Mickey, lunged at the leader only to be held back by two armed guards.   
  


“Leave her alone.” Harriet shouted again knowing that there was nothing she could do to save the brave woman as the alien leader walked up to Rose readying himself to kill her as one might a annoying fly on the wall. 

Rose stood there as afraid as a deer in the headlights. She had no hope of getting out of this alive and apologized to everyone in her head that she had failed to do what The Doctor could have so easily done if he had not been broken beyond repair. Rose held true to her conviction not to give her condition away, even though she knew that there was no point to it now. But it at least made her feel a little better knowing that she guarded her child from danger until the end and with her own life. She was just sorry that by her dying her child would be forced to as well. She hoped that it would be quick and painless, but from the show that this alien was making, her death would be a statement and a public spectacle. All the while the Sycorax circled the terrified Rose, intentionally being as threatening as it could and invading Rose’s personal space. Alex dreading what he would read next from the translator as the vile monster began to talk again read aloud,  
  


“Did you think you were clever with your stolen words? We are the Sycorax, we stride the darkness. Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion…” But suddenly the gibberish that the Sycorax had been speaking early now sounded like English and Alex at first not realizing what was happening continued to read along.   
  


“Then your world will be gutted…” Said the Sycorax and Alex read the same.  
  


“And your people enslaved.” The skull wearing alien hissed. Suddenly Rose was understanding what the alien was saying and so were the other humans there. The alien had been taking in another language, why now would it be ‘courteous’ enough to let them know what it was saying to them?   
  


“Hold on, that's English.” Pointed out Alex, to which Harriet agreed,   
  


“He's talking English.” Amazed as well and confused Rose stated to the alien,  
  


“You're talking English.”   
  


“I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile.” Shouted the alien affronted and also confused that these primitives were now somehow speaking in his tongue. Rose was now coming to a fast conclusion, and taking a step back, pointed at the alien while she asked Mickey,   
  


“That's English. Can you hear English?” Harriet nodded to Rose and Mickey agreed that the alien was speaking English.   
  


“Definitely English.” Stated Alex putting down his translator as it was now of no use. The alien was fed up with this distraction.  
  


“I speak only Sycoraxic!” Roared the alien, insulted by these primitive life form’s accusations. Rose could not help but begin to perk up at this realization and in hope and disbelief she stated in a voice very breathy and almost hyperventilating,  
  


“If I can hear English, then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means…” She then turned around to face the TARDIS and looking past everyone saw the TARDIS doors opening. And even though it was not her leather Doctor who opened the doors, as he began to speak, Rose felt overwhelming joy and relief dance across her single heart. 

“Honey, I’m home. Did you miss me?” Smirked The Doctor as he held the doors of the TARDIS open causing Rose to grin like a loon. 

Infuriated by the presence of this new human The Sycorax cracked his whip only to find that he did not get the same result as he had with the last two humans. The Doctor caught the end of the whip with his arm and pulled it free from the alien’s hand.   
  


“You could have someone's eye out with that.” Scolded The Doctor as if he were speaking to a child as he approached the angry alien. It could not believe that it was being defied by yet another ridiculous looking human.  
  


“How dare…!” Hissed the Sycorax leader, who tried to swing his club at the Doctor only to have The Doctor take the alien’s thick club away and break it across his Time Lord knee like it was nothing. Whatever this thing was, the Sycorax was fast realizing that it was no ordinary human, if human at all.   
  


“You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait.... I'm busy.” Said The Doctor as he pointed at the confused and affronted alien, who just stood there with its mouth open in shock. It could hardly believe that it was being told to wait, but then this opponent of his turned around to face the darker skinned human to exchange pleasantries of all things! Wasn’t this wild haired human-like thing worried at all that it was surrounded by thousands of Sycorax? The alien just stood there and watched the exchange finding himself somewhat fascinated of what this strange being would do next.

“Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like This Is Your Life.” Smiled the Doctor at the wary looking people he had just addressed, all the while Rose watched on. Mickey even looked surprised that he was being greeted so warmly by the Time Lord who normally rolled his eyes at him whenever he was nearby. The Doctor then approached Rose and said to the stunned woman.

“Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first thing's first. Be honest, how do I look? ” Asked The Doctor of his wife, it was very important to him that Rose approved of his new form, whatever it looked like. And after being so denied a chance to peek before, he was dying to know at this point. Where was a mirror when he needed it? Why was it so hard to find a mirror around here? Humans were some of the vainest creatures he had met surely one of them had to have a mirror on them.

Rose stared at the man before her not sure how to behave or address him. What a question to be asked by someone who seemed a stranger to her but yet not somehow. She still found herself again trying to dig into those brown eyes to find the blue ones. This was a whole new game and she wasn’t even 100% sure who or what she was looking at. He had yet to do anything since he woke up that distinctly and undeniably identified him to her as The Doctor, her husband. For the sake of moving things along and getting to the bottom of this she spoke.   
  


“Er, different.” She finally copped out. Different could be good but it could also not be a good thing. Needing clarity The Doctor never taking his eyes off hers almost conspiratorially asked her,   
  


“Good different or bad different?” He was testing the waters now and Rose once more had nothing else to add but say,   
  


“Just different.” What she was seeing was neither good nor bad. She wasn’t really in the mind to have an opinion on how people looked at this moment. Now came the important part, the part that his counterparts had refused to answer for him.  
  


“Am I ginger?” Rose let her eyes leave his wild ones to look up at his wild hair to double check and much to The Doctor’s disappointment, reported,   
  


“No, you're just sort of brown.” The Doctor stalked away a few feet very miffed at this news and then he felt that anger direct itself to other things. His thoughts were clearing and he was remembering all as his mind made the last mends pulling together his fractured memories. And then he remembered that Rose had lost hope in him and that thought made him peeved to say the least. Here he was going through a painful process of resurrecting and rebuilding his body from death and Rose had given up on him?! She never even gave him a chance and he bloody died for her! Though he didn’t seem to fully realize, or rather remember, that Rose was not fully aware of that fact, or the properties of regeneration, but irrational ramblings rarely are thought out.

“I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me!” He shouted and pointed to Rose accusatorially and she looked taken aback by his words. He saw the hurt look on her face and then realized what he had done and said almost sheepishly and just as surprised,

“Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger.” The Doctor was looking very crestfallen as Harriet now finally got her chance to speak while this man was not talking.

“I'm sorry. Who is this?” Asked Harriet, now very confused as to who this strange man that seemed to know Rose was.   
  


“I'm the Doctor.” Declared the man and Rose also parroted to Harriet in a voice that very much wanted to believe what she was saying,   
  


“He's The Doctor.” This made no sense to Harriet and in a voice that was full of disbelief and then curiosity declared,  
  


“But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?”   
  


“I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything.” Said The Doctor hinting suggestively at Rose who, in spite of herself, turned her head with a blush.   
  


“But you can't be.” Said Harriet who obviously was having a hard time believing The Doctor that he was who he said he was, even with Rose backing him. The Doctor could not have two people doubting him so he tried again with what he had with Rose earlier. He told Harriet information that only his leather wearing counterpart could have known.  
  


“Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own.” Stated The Doctor without hesitation to Harriet and she knew that it was him. She accepted it right away.   
  


“Oh, my God.” She couldn’t help but say out loud. Was there nothing that this amazing man could not do? The atmosphere then went a bit chummy feeling, as the two friends began to catch up.  
  


“Did you win the election?” Questioned The Doctor with a smile.   
  


“Landslide majority.” Declared Harriet a bit proud of herself. 

“Well at least some people are more easily convinced.” Mused The Doctor which he said as he accidently looked in Rose’s direction and then realizing what he had said when he saw Rose’s hurt face again, he stated somewhat apologetically,

“Oooo, probably shouldn’t have said that aloud, sorry. Rude again.” The Sycorax had had enough of this and was about to shout his irritation at being ignored for small talk, when Rose growled at the Doctor, clearly angry at The Doctor’s dismissive comment about what she had been through.

“Rude?! I thought you were dead and gone! I had no warning to whatever it was you did! Did it ever occurred to you to tell me, ‘By the way I might do this thing where I explode and burst into flames and have a brand new body and everything?!’” Shouted Rose, a full on marital spat had clearly just begun, right here, right now on an enemy alien ship. This was happening NOW. And all anyone else could do was watch and take bets as to who was coming out the victor.

“Gone, I’m right in front of you! Nothing has changed in here.” Said The Doctor gesturing at his chest as he continued,

“ What was I suppose to say, oh, by the way, in case one day I start lighting up like a sparkler, that’s normal. That’s a random thing to say before bed, don’t ya think?” Questioned The Doctor, not believing that Rose would expect him to make plans to help her prepare for his demise and regeneration.

“You could have said something to prepare me! Put yourself in my shoes. Wouldn’t you be confused and scared if you saw me blow up and another woman came along claiming that they were me?! Wouldn’t you be a little distrusting? Wouldn’t you be sad at the prospect of never seeing me like this again?!!” Snapped back Rose, to which The Doctor snarked back,

“It’s different for Time Lords. And well, yes, I’d miss this you, but I’d still have you. Minds are more important than bodily appearance to Time Lords. And I never thought you'd live long enough for that to happen. I can go centuries without regenerating even once....If lucky... anyway, I was being optimistic that I wouldn’t die while I was with you!” Rose was a bit taken aback by his reminder to her of her shorter life span, but not wanting to let her husband off easy for the heartache and confusion she had been put through hissed,

“Well how was I supposed to know that? For all I knew Time Lords just died differently from humans. With humans when you die, you die. No flames. Not ‘space dead’ like you did! You said you were dying and that’s all I understood! When you showed up like this, I didn’t know what to think. You could have explained to me any time before that you could be ‘space dead’. Do you Time Lords come with an instruction manual?”

“It’s not ‘space dead,’ it is called regeneration! It’s a painful process that I went through because I needed to save your life!” Declared The Doctor, indignant that such a difficult and traumatic event in his life should be so misnamed and misunderstood.

“I didn’t want you to die for me!” Shouted Rose fighting back tears a bit. The two then glared at each other and both shouted in unison,

  
  
“This is stupid! All I wanted was you safe!” The two then looked at each other still angry, but softened by each other’s declaration.

“Yeah?” Asked The Doctor and at the same time Rose asked just the same. The two might have had a moment there, but then they were interrupted by the persistent Sycorax leader.

“Excuse me!” The Sycorax gruffed.

“WHAT?!” The two yelled not too politely at the Sycorax leader for the interruption. The two had been waiting a while to finally have this talk and were not appreciating the rude alien trying to butt in on the conversation. The Sycorax leader was momentarily taken aback, but then got back his fire and in a mock form of politeness declared,  
  


“If I might interrupt.” The two remembered themselves and the unfinished situation that they were in and The Doctor replied, though still annoyed,

“Yes, sorry. Alien invasion still needs sorting. Hello, big fellow.”   
  


“Who exactly are you?” Asked the goat skulled alien leader as he still had no clue who this person was and why he acted so strangely.   
  


“Well, that's the question.” Answered The Doctor, really now pondering aloud the fact that he had no idea what the quirks of this new regeneration of his were yet. He hoped that whatever they were that they were compatible with Rose and the baby. The baby right, he turned to Rose and started to ask, her if everything with the baby was still alright, especially since guiltily he remembered putting Rose, and at the same time his child, through a TARDIS crash. But no sooner did he turn his head and say ‘Rose’ the Sycorax leader growled.  
  


“I demand to know who you are!” Snipped the Sycorax leader, in no mood for any unnecessary talk anymore.   
  


“I don't know!” Shouted The Doctor loudly in an aggravated voice sort of imitating the Sycorax leader in a mocking tone. The Doctor then began to muse about his situation aloud as he walked about the Sycorax ship.

“See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?” The Time Lord asked. He then winked at Rose, who turned her head slightly in a blush and The Doctor hoped very much that he was still sexy to Rose. Rassilon, did he ever want a mirror! Maybe Time Lords were just a bit vain too.

“Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob.” Said The Doctor as he slowly made his way up a stone staircase only to see a big very menacing, very enticing red button. His eyes lit up and he smiled, he ran up to the button and said,

“And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?” Not waiting for an answer The Doctor continued as his human companions looked nervously on as they came up the stairs along with the very nervous looking Sycorax.

“Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?” Declared The Doctor as he investigated the button. The Doctor then opened the base of the pillar under the button and began to make sense as to what technology it was and its purpose.   
  


“And what've we got here? Blood? Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood.” The Doctor then tasted the blood much to Rose’s disgust. This man was mouth washing and brushing his teeth twice tonight if she had a say in it.

“A Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years.” Said The Doctor excited as if he was looking at something quaint and old like a gramophone. The Doctor’s mood shifted dramatically and he became very grim, very crazy eyed, and very threatening,

“You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this.” And he pushed that button much to the horror of all the humans in front of him. They were all shouting ‘NO!’ but it was too late. They all thought the same thing, this man foolishly and recklessly did not know what the stakes were and what pushing that button would do. However, what that button had done was simply turn off the mind control on all the A+ humans on Earth. 1/3rd of the Earth saved, fresh new body and already on a roll!  
  


“You killed them!” Choked out Alex in disbelief, but The Doctor was not worried and announced Sycorax leader,   
  


“What do you think, big fellow? Are they dead?” Knowing that he had been caught in his lie, the leader, begrudgingly admitted,  
  


“We allow them to live.” The Doctor however was not fooled at all and in a voice that screamed that he couldn’t believe that the Sycorax leader had not given up the jig yet, said,   
  


“Allow? You've no choice. I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong.” He then walked away, the button of no more interest to him.  
  


“Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force.” Hissed back the Sycorax leader, he was not yet ready to admit defeat. The Doctor in response just tilted his head a bit considering the pointlessness of invading the Earth. The only thing good you could get out of the Earth was just watching the fascinating things that its inhabitants would do next. If you invaded them then they wouldn’t advance any further and where was the fun in that? Trying to reason with the alien The Doctor stated,  
  


“Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that. Of course you could. But why? Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than…” The Doctor paused for a moment and realized he had heard that bit before, but where? Recollecting the words place of origin he declared,

“No, hold on. Sorry, that's The Lion King. Oh, gonna love watching that with junior! Just so long as they don’t bop me on the head. Funny bit that part with Rafiki but not a good thing if children think they can parrot it. Oh, Sorry… But the point still stands. Leave them alone! If not just for the sake of letting them make more Disney movies.” Implored the Doctor on behalf of the humans. Rose’s ear couldn’t help but pink a bit at the thought of The Doctor planning on things to do with their child later on. It gave her hope that they could still work out a future together. But the warm feelings didn’t last long as there was still an invasion to stop and The Doctor was the one that needed to do it. 

The Sycorax leader could not believe that this scrawny, and slightly more knowledgeable then average, creature was trying to tell him what to do! Leave the humans alone? Leave this easily invaded planet and all its resources alone?! Why should they and what authority did he have to tell the Sycorax to do anything?  
  


“Or what?” Inquired the alien leader not seeing any reason why he should listen to this crazy rambling idiot in front of him.   
  


“Or…” Retorted The Doctor who then stole a sword off an alien hostile next to him and ran back towards the TARDIS before shouting in a proud and confident voice, 

“I challenge you.” This declaration was then met with mocking laughter by the inhabitants of the alien craft. The Doctor however, unlike Rose earlier, seemed not to be diminished at all by the laughing and jeering directed at him. In fact, he rather looked like he was enjoying himself and declared,  
  


“Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?” The Doctor began to take off the blue dressing gown that he still wore as the alien leader approached him while drawing his sword.  
  


“You stand as this world's champion.” The alien scoffed while Rose and the other humans followed cautiously behind.   
  


“Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up.” Smirked The Doctor who then threw his dressing gown to Rose. Rose was surprised by the gesture but managed to keep a hold on it. Rose could not help but feel worried for the man standing before her still in the borrowed pajamas. He did not look too intimidating standing next to the Sycorax leader. The Doctor did not seem at all threatened by the other alien’s sword and gripping up on his own questioned in a mocking voice that infuriated the Sycorax Leader,   
  


“So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?” The insult that Rose could not understand had clearly been enough to enrage the scary skull wearing alien before her, and dirty enough that the TARDIS did not translate for her. ‘If you are trying to spare my virgin ears, you’re a bit too late.’ Thought Rose to the TARDIS. Rose thought for a moment that she felt the TARDIS’ presence giving her a mock excuse but she did not have time to idly muse as the fight was starting up. The two combatants raised their swords in challenge which was met with the loud roar of the crowd of aliens surrounding Rose and her human friends. The Doctor and the Sycorax leader then got down on one knee and rested the tips of their swords on the ground as they leaned on them.   
  
  


“For the planet?” Questioned the Sycorax leader with a hiss.   
  


“For the planet.” The Doctor parroted. The stakes set, the two raised their swords began to square off before exchanging mighty blows. Rose looked on with very nervous and concerned eyes for her planet’s champion. She had seen the Doctor do many things before, but sword fighting was not one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: Oh when will aliens learn not to underestimate The Doctor. I hope you liked the bit with Rose and the Doctor having a lover’s spat while the Sycorax leader was trying to get a word in. Clearly The Doctor doesn’t see these aliens being much of a threat to him so he would most likely prioritize and talk to Rose instead, heh. Tell me what you think, comments I will admit do encourage me to take more time out of my day to type.  
> Leaving this here....  
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	5. The more things change the more they stay the same

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Save the Earth, make up with the Missus, and get a new wardrobe. All in a days work for The Doctor.

Complications  
By The Plot Thinens  
Chapter 05 – The more things change the more they stay the same

“Look out!” Shouted Rose to warn The Doctor that the Sycorax Leader was taking a swing at him. 

“Oh, yeah, that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks.” Said The Doctor back to Rose in a condescending voice. If Rose wasn’t so worried for his well-being then she would have wanted to smack him for that remark. But The Doctor was clearly having some trouble in this sword match as it was obvious that the leader of these hostile aliens was the more experienced swordsman. The Doctor realized this too and decided that running to a more open location where he would not have to worry about being cornered or hitting an innocent bystander was a better strategy. The Doctor retreated up a tunnel and spotting another big red button, which he could see obviously lead outside this cavernous ship, pushed it and ran out into the open air. Everyone heard him announce the suggestion for bit of fresh air as they followed close behind him. The Sycorax leader was just behind him and raced to catch after the annoying creature that it was going to enjoy killing more than usual.

Harriet Jones was a nervous wreck. She had helplessly witnessed her people being controlled against their will, and two of her staff murdered before her eyes. She so far had been unable to do anything to improve the situation and just about lost hope when suddenly she had spotted that familiar golden hair. Rose! Her precious friend who traveled with the one man she knew could save them all. It had been crushing when Rose had revealed that she was alone without The Doctor. All hope was lost to Harriet as she knew what was going to happen to Rose just as soon as she opened her mouth and spoke to the Sycorax leader. Then all things had turned topsy-turvy again when this strange man showed up. He seemed to be above the situation and unconcerned about the invasion on Earth. He had an aire of ‘I’ve got this covered.’ And it had been confusing and fascinating to watch him. She had witnessed quite a bit and as she watched this man fighting now for her planet she still was amazed that this was supposedly the same man she had met at 10th Downing so many months ago. She never would have believed it if he had not known such secret information about her and if Rose had not backed him up. And that was another thing if the banter between The Doctor and Rose was to be believed then the two’s relationship had certainly accelerated since she had seen them last. She had suspected that The Doctor was in love with Rose, if not then, at the time, she was at least extremely endearing to him. If they survived this she would certainly be sending Rose a congratulations card and presents for the planet saving couple’s expected child. It was almost enough to bring a smile to her face at the thought of her friends sharing such a wonderful experience together, but then that Sycorax was swinging his sword at The Doctor and all thoughts of baby shower presents went out the airlock as the group went chasing after The Doctor. 

The Door opened to reveal refreshing daylight. If the circumstances were different than maybe it would have been lovely to stop and admire the rare view of London easily thousands of feet in the air. Rose spotted The Doctor and he was engaged in mortal combat with the Sycorax leader. Unfortunately. he clearly did not have the upper hand. The Doctor was being driven back to the edge, and Rose’s heart started beating faster with worry for the Time Lord. Her fear escalated yet more when the Sycorax managed to land a hit on The Doctor’s nose. The Doctor noticed that his human companions were looking like they wanted to come to his aid but their good intentions would not help him or help save the Earth. 

“Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet.” Warned The Doctor to the humans who were not as informed to the customs of the Sycorax as he was. The Doctor exchanged yet more sword blows with the alien but The Doctor’s luck ran out and much to Rose’s horror, the leader Sycorax knocked the Doctor down then took a mighty slash at him. The sword's full weight severed The Doctor’s right hand from his arm and it fell to the Earth below. The Doctor no longer had two hands to hold the sword with and all seemed lost. Harriet looked as if she might pull her hair out from despair and the rest of the humans with her felt very much the same.

The Doctor stared at where his hand used to be, there was no blood. He realized what that might mean as he said his next words.

“You cut my hand off. Glad it’s not the left one, otherwise you would have made me lose my ring and I would have been very cross.” Said The Doctor, first in disbelief, but then switched over to a joking mood. He was now sure what a lack of blood staining his shirt meant and what luck! The Sycorax leader just thought that the man was going crazy from the loss of his hand and greeted the cheers of his people. It was then however, that The Doctor got up, now very aware as to whom he was now.

“And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Because quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this…” Explained The Doctor as his missing hand grew back as if by magic, but merely just a case of superior biology and cell growth. 

“Witchcraft.” Hissed the Sycorax, who, to his knowledge, knew that no creature could normally grow a hand back so quickly. 

“Time Lord.” Said The Doctor wanting to make it very clear to the Sycorax, just who he was dealing with. Rose then took this opportunity to throw The Doctor another sword that she just so happened, at that very minute, to pulled off another Sycorax, much to its surprise. She knew that only The Doctor could do something that impossible and wanted to ‘lend him another hand.’

“Doctor!” She shouted without hesitation as she threw the sword to the man she now had come to realize was, although now different, indeed her husband. The Doctor caught the sword and his hearts skipped with joy at Rose’s declaration. She had shouted to him just as she would have to his old self! Still he had play it cool and look tough until the fight was over, so he jokingly replied,

“Oh, so I'm still The Doctor, then?” Rose just smiled back at him and said, 

“No arguments from me!” 

“Want to know the best bit? This new hand? It's a fighting hand!” In an accent that was not his own at all. After that the match seemed to have turned in The Doctor’s favor. Being a superior Time Lord it did not take him long to memorize patterns and combat skills. And this alien he was facing had very predictable moves. The Sycorax was also tiring now from swinging his sword about with wide blows. The Doctor on the other hand was feeling revitalized from the use of the extra cellular energy. In a few short moves The Doctor was able to disarm the Sycorax and thumped both hilts of the swords into his opponent’s abdomen. Twice. Once for threatening Rose and the other for what they had been planning to do to the Earth. The Sycorax leader fell to the ground very close to the edge of the ship and The Doctor’s sword was on the alien as he hit the ground. 

“I win.” Hissed The Doctor to the Sycorax on the ground at his sword’s point. 

“Then kill me.” The Alien leader said. The Doctor had no desire to kill the alien at his mercy, quite frankly he’d rather wrap up this whole incident without having to have any blood on his hands. So he thought of this species traditions and laws to device an alternative to bloodshed. 

“I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?” Announced The Doctor to the being at his feet. The Sycorax agreed to the terms but the Doctor was not yet completely convinced of his sincerity. The Time Lord thought of the most sacred pledge that this alien could make and gritting his teeth as he applied more pressure to the alien’s neck with his sword tip demanded, 

“Swear on the blood of your species.” 

“I swear.” Groaned the Sycorax leader as equally grim. 

“There we are, then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow.” Said The Doctor satisfied and his mood switching back to its eccentric manner from earlier. The Doctor then stabbed his sword into the ground and walked away from his defeated opponent. Now that that was settled The Doctor could focus on more important things or rather people. Of which the most important one was currently running toward him carrying his dressing gown and child if he might add. 

“Bravo!” Cheered Harriet, relieved that once more her Doctor had saved the day for the people of not just England but the Earth. 

“That says it all. Bravo!” Rejoiced Rose as she ran to greet her triumphal husband with a quick peck on the cheek before making her way behind him to help him put on his dressing gown. The Doctor had been expecting a kiss on the lips from Rose and had even puckered up his lips before, but then felt her lips on his cheek. He was disappointed but assumed that he was still a bit new to her and there were too many people around. He had in the past expressed a disliking to kissing her around others especially others they knew. Perhaps she was just holding true to that rule he had set. He was really starting to wish that his old self had not been such a grumpy stuck up prude. ‘Well there I go again beating myself up.’ Thought The Doctor, but then he saw how proud Rose was of him in her eyes and his mood brightened.

“Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams.” Smirked The Doctor as Rose finished helping him back into his dressing gown. Once the gown was on Rose couldn’t help but lean against The Doctor a bit. The Doctor recognized the gesture and rested his head on the top of Rose’s. The Doctor stuck out his hand to Rose but noticed that her arms were hugging herself and didn’t seem to have any sign of moving. He couldn’t help but feel, by her gestures, that Rose was telling herself that she should be fine being close to this him... but there was still that part of her that was hung up that his physical form was still so different.

‘Give her time, old boy. She’s at least admitted that you are the same man now. She will transfer all her feelings for my old self to me soon enough.’ Mused The Doctor to himself. Rose and he had just gone through a very traumatic experience and this was the tail end of it. The Doctor stretched his now healed mind to the little one that Rose’s arms were so safely protecting. They were doing better too. The child obviously could not 'talk' yet in the womb but he could get feelings off it. Its mental state was not unlike a human baby when they had settled down after a long fitful cry. He sent all of the comforting feelings that he had wanted to give from the start of his regeneration to his child and he couldn’t help but feel that Rose somehow could sense the calming too. Rose seemed more relaxed but wanting to make Rose more comfortable The Doctor shot off his gob again about his pajamas. 

“Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?” Asked The Doctor as he, not having anything to do with his hands, placed them in his dressing gown pocket. He felt something soft and round in said pocket and pull it out to inspect.

“A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers. He does like his snacks, doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?” Rambled The Doctor to Rose, who was very much absorbed in the conversation as The Doctor seemed to be. 

Unbeknownst to the reunited couple the Sycorax leader had got up, grabbed his sword and was now running at The Doctor's back. The Doctor not even turning around to face or acknowledge the threat to himself and his family, threw the satsuma at a control on the spaceship hull. A piece of the wing on the alien ship then opened up and the leader fell to his grizzly death. 

“No second chances. I'm that sort of a man.” Stated The Doctor grimly as he entered back into the space ship to address the denizens inside. Making his way down the stone like stairs with Rose close to his side The Doctor went back to the pit where the TARDIS stood to address the remaining aliens.

“By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, it's potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended.” Hissed The Doctor in warning to the defeated alien race. No sooner had he said this was the TARDIS, Harriet, Alex, Rose, Mickey and The Doctor were all beamed back down to Earth to a London road. Rose looked about confused, but then got her bearings that they were at least back on Earth. As to where was indeed the question.  
“Where are we?” Rose asked as she looked about at the buildings surrounding her as she stood with her party in the middle of the street. Mickey’s eyes lit up with recognition and he cheered, 

“We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!” The humans were rejoicing but The Doctor’s eyes were trained skyward at the Sycorax ship. If it did not leave soon then The Doctor had yet another problem on his hand that he needed to take care of. And he hoped that the Sycorax were not stupid enough to mess with him twice. 

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Declared The Doctor as the spaceship began to fly away from Earth and he let out a small sigh of relief.

“Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!” Cheered Mickey as he gestured for the spaceship to leave, Rose got caught up in the moment too and was about to jump on her friend in celebration, but a quick reminder to herself of her condition made her think otherwise. She settle instead for wrapping one of her arms around her friend’s shoulder and leaning on him as she shouted to the aliens, as if they could hear her, 

“Yeah! Don't come back!” Mickey then shouted off,

“It is defended!” Mickey hugged Rose and in the spirit of things Rose hugged the Harriet's staffer, Alex. Though they had only just met Alex did not seem to mind getting a hug from a pretty girl when he thought that he was going to be dead not a half hour ago. Rose let out a sigh of relief and placing a hand on her stomach she said in a low voice to her child,

“Daddy is always going to keep us safe.” The Doctor smiled at Rose, hoping that meant that she had forgiven him for the TARDIS crash earlier. He would give his life before he would see harm come to his family. The Time Lord then turned his attention to Harriet Jones.

“My Doctor.” Smiled Harriet in satisfaction at the man before her who was every inch the same person that she had met in Downing Street. 

“Prime Minister.” Smirked The Doctor, proud of his friend as he gave her a hug. 

“Absolutely the same man.” Beamed Harriet as she brought her eyes skyward. Then in a serious voice she asked The Doctor,

“Are there many more out there?” The Doctor did not seem to be as worried as Harriet and explained as if it were just a fact of life, 

“Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed more and more. You'd better get used to it.” Harriet did not like this revelation at all their conversation might have gone further when it was interrupted by the loud familiar voice of The Doctor’s, like it or not, mother-in-law. The Doctor turned his head to see Jackie running toward them and shouting for her daughter, while Rose did the same for her mother having spotted her too.

“Oh, talking of trouble.” Said The Doctor condescendingly. He had been fancying the idea of just hopping into the TARDIS with Rose to honeymoon on Barcelona, but that most likely was not happening now. It was Christmas day and Rose would want to do human things and spend the rest of the day with her mother. 

‘The things a husband endures…’ thought The Doctor as he rolled his eyes much as his old regeneration would have. But upon further observation he saw how happy the two were to see each other again and that joy was infectious. 

“Oh, my God! You did it, Rose! Oh!” Cheered Jackie in disbelief that her daughter and most likely her daughter’s alien bloke had once more saved the Earth from disaster. The Doctor began to stroll up to what was now his family and only briefly noted that the human Alex was answering a phone call. 

“You did it too! It was the tea. Fixed his head.” Declared Rose as she acknowledged that her mother had the right idea about having a cup of tea to fix things. Though it had been more successful then could have been hoped for or expected. 

“That was all I needed, cup of tea.” Grinned The Doctor to which Jackie proudly announced that she had said as much. 

“Look at him. He’s up and about like nothing happened!” smiled Rose as she pointed to her husband. Jackie, now getting a good look at the man, awake, healthy, and hopefully less crazy, gave him an appraising look and skeptically asked, 

“Is it him, though? Is it really The Doctor?” He looked so different from the middle aged bane of her existence son-in-law that she was at this point now more or less used to. Jackie’s train of thought however was derailed when she noticed the woman standing behind The Doctor. She had to do a double take and then in a very undignified manner declared in shock,

“Oh, my God, it's the bleeding Prime Minister!” 'That's my his mother-in-law saying that,' The Doctor thought only half exasperated. As rough around the edges as she was The Doctor carried a growing respect for the fierce and tough as nails alien that was his wife’s mother. She said what she felt and she didn't back down.

“Come here, you.” He smiled and voluntarily hugged Jackie, which then turned into a group hug as Mickey and Rose joined in. The Doctor had to admit that even though he had tried to resist it, after having lost so much and been hurt so deeply, that a family had found him and he was now part of one again. And really that wasn’t as bad as he had thought it would be. 

“Are you better? I mean look at you. You’re all skin and bones now. Bit taller now but I think you could stand a good Christmas dinner. Least now you look more like you could be my son-in-law. Less explaining to the neighbors...or is it gonna be more now?...” Nattered Jackie to which The Doctor patiently and with a smile on his face said that he was better and food, even though it was Jackie cooking it, sounded good. Little did the happy group know that something which The Doctor would find quite horrifying was about to take place at the hands of a woman that he thought was his friend.

“You left me.” Scolded Jackie to her daughter, to which Rose apologized for but added that it wasn’t as if she had any control over it. 

“I had all the food. Now let’s get you home. After all that excitement, Rose, you need a good meal for you and my grandbaby.” Declared Jackie as Rose rolled her eyes a little bit. She swore that that was all that her mother thought of. Rose had no intention to starve her baby and it was Christmas morning, of course she planned on stuffing herself and then sleeping... a lot. The happy atmosphere was then interrupted by the sound of a large static charge and five beams of green light streaking across the sky and into space. These green beams hit the Sycorax asteroid ship and it exploded. The Doctor and his group were stunned as a they saw the huge explosion turn the sky orange. 

“What is that? What's happening?” She asked The Doctor very confused and scared. The Doctor realized what had happened and looking at the woman that he thought was his friend and hissed,

“That was murder.” Harriet stood her ground proudly and stated her justification for destroying the Sycorax ship.

“That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago.” 

“But they were leaving.” Countered The Doctor, he could not believe his ‘friend’ would do this. It was an unnecessary loss of life. Not swayed Harriet continued,

“You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves.” The Doctor was disgusted and couldn’t believe that this was the ground on which the supposed, 

“Britain's Golden Age.” He said, was built on. 

“It comes with a price.” Noted Harriet unmoved by the magnitude of the lives she had taken. She did not see it as any different from the aliens they had to destroy back in Downing Street. They were a threat then too and they had used deadly force in that case too. The Doctor however was a different man now and he was very tired of blood and bloody hands.

“I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race.” Hissed The Doctor with disgust. Rose’s blood went cold at that statement. Was that what in his secret hearts he thought of her too? Rose knew generalizations were dangerous things. You couldn’t paint an entire people with the same brush and then say, ‘oh but there are one or two good ones.’ Not only was wrong, it made you a hypocrite. The blood was not on her hands or billions of other people on this planet for the Sycorax, it was Harriet Jones and her administration that had the blood on their hands. And for that he was saying such a hurtful thing, by that logic what was the point of any good she did if he was going to let the action of others blot any good she had done out. She hoped that he was just upset and did not mean it, but it was language worse than just calling her and her species stupid apes. He had called them monsters and by that statement he was the father of a half monster too. She would have to talk to him about that later. 

“Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf.” Stated Harriet simply and insulted by how The Doctor had referred to her people. 

“Then I should have stopped you.” Growled The Doctor. 

“What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?” Challenged Harriet. And that was the last straw. The Doctor looked at Harriet. She was an older looking woman, but he was far older and far smarter than her. It was like putting the mind of a child against an adult, there was no competition. And it was quite sad that Harriet did not see who she was messing with. Even the most brilliant scientific minds in all of human history, as far as intelligence went, were to him like grade schoolers in a primary school science fair. Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, the Doctor would have given his battery a b-. And this human elected official dared to test his sincerity?

“Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word.” He stated in a threatening tone. Harriet heard his threat and it was chilling but she knew that it was impossible to do so. He was after all only one man and it took many more than one person to bring down a government. 

“You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that.” Said Harriet thinking that she had the upper hand here. The Doctor had to admit his error and give credit where it was due.

“No, you're right. Not a single word, just six.” He said, he would only need six words to implant the subliminal message into the mind of her people that would spread like a virus until Harriet Jones was rendered powerless. Harriet said that she still did not think that was possible, but The Doctor insisted that he needed only six words.

“Stop it!” Shouted Harriet now a bit unnerved at being on the receiving end of The Doctor’s anger. 

“Six.” Said The Doctor as he walked to Alex. She had dared to challenge him and he was going to show her that power like all things is a thing easily taken away. He then whispered in Alex’s ear, 

“Don't you think she looks tired?” The Doctor then walked off with his family leaving Harriet to frantically demand what The Doctor had said to Alex. He however was not able to remember and Harriet already knowing that she had lost felt all the remorse in the world. 

“Doctor! Doctor, what did you? What was that? What did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor!... I'm sorry.” The last part said in sad defeat. This was not how she had planned things would go. She had planned a reunion and celebration with her friend and now she had effectively been cut loose from The Doctor’s circle of friends. She realized that of all the things that she would soon lose, the thing that she would regret the most was losing The Doctor’s friendship.

“Did you mean it, Doctor? Or were you just upset?” Asked Rose as they hung back from Jackie and Mickey as they made their way to the Powell Estate. The Doctor had to collect his effects from the Tyler flat before heading back to the TARDIS to put himself in order.

“Hmm?” Asked The Doctor still brooding from the mass murder he had just witnessed. 

“You call me a monster. You called your child a half monster. Is that what you think of us? I don’t agree with what Harriet did and neither does my Mum or Mickey. And if it had been up to me I would have let them go.”

“Rose, I didn’t mean…”

“Doctor, like it or not I am part of the human race and so is your child. And it hurts me when you bash my species and I certainly don’t want our child growing up hearing that language out of you. If I met a bad member of your species than I wouldn’t think that all Time Lords were bad.” The Doctor flinched slightly at the mention of his people and in a voice that sounded guilty he replied,

“I AM a bad Time Lord.”

“Now, don’t say that. You are the best Time Lord I’ve ever met.”

“Kinda hard to find competition for that title, when I’m the only one left.” The Doctor said bitterly,

“Well you aren’t the only one left, if you remember there are two of you. And that second Time Lord is human too. And we are not raising them to be self loathing either. Everyone has flaws, every species is going to have members who do bad things, say horrible things, or hurt others. Some of them even enjoy doing horrible thing. If we were to judge everyone as a whole based on the worst of our species than we might as well throw in the towel now.” Said Rose without backing down. The Doctor saw the hurt and anger in Rose’s eyes at his generalizations and her words were true. Letting out a breath of air, he stopped and put his hands on Rose’s shoulders and said in a quiet voice, 

“I’m sorry, Rose. I was upset. I don’t think that humans are monsters. I love humans. They’re my favorite alien species. Why else do you think I spend so much time around them? It’s not just because you look Time Lord... I admire your culture, sciences, arts and as a people. That’s why I’ve spent my life studying humans. You have so many good qualities and for every bad person known in history there are 30 million others who are good people that you never hear about.” 

“Okay, Doctor. Apology accepted. Just try to remember, words hurt, yeah?” Said Rose back to The Doctor as she leaned her forehead on his chest and The Doctor gave her a hug before they made their way up the stairs to Jackie’s flat.

The Doctor now wanting to be active after being asleep for so long actually found himself helping to turn over the dining room table with Mickey before he was to set off back for the TARDIS. He needed some new clothes to wear since he couldn’t be traveling through time and space in a borrowed pair of pajamas. He was about to make his way out the door when he spotted Rose on her old bed holding the leather jacket he used to wear. Good thing too, she had reminded him that although he had his sonic on him, that was all he had. He needed to retrieve that jacket and dig out the other contents of his pockets. Then while he was at it he probably should file that jacket away along with his other old outfits. That was when he noticed that Rose eyes were misty.

“Rose?” He questioned as she looked up startled and put the Jacket down. He could see that the front of the jacket was a little wet from tears.

“What’s wrong?” He asked again. Rose tried to convince him that nothing was the matter, but The Doctor knew better.

“Rose, you can tell me anything. You know that, yeah?” He said, the last bit trying to imitate her speech patterns to get a smile out of her. It worked a little. Rose swallowed a lump in her throat and explained.

“It’s just, I’m worried that…well…I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.” The Doctor was very interested in what Rose was worried about at this point and Rose said,

“It’s just I know it’s you, but I still miss the old you, and I think that I always will. You’re so different now and you even smell a bit different…and I want to make new memories with you, but I don’t want to forget…I’m afraid I’ll forget how you used to be. Smelling your jacket it was taking me back in time. Part of me wants you to put this back on and wear it but another part of me feels like it doesn’t suit you anymore and that scared me. I don’t want to lose anymore of you…and… Oh I don’t know what I’m thinking. It’s stupid, I’m sorry.” The Doctor got down on the bed with Rose and wiped away the tears from her eyes,

“No, no, no, Rose. Don’t be sorry and it’s not stupid. They are your feelings and you have a right to them. They are genuine concerns. I realize that, as an understatement, I have not been the easiest man to be married to. You hold on to your memories we had together, they are precious to both of us and I will never be pained if you want to remember how I used to be because I’ll be doing it too. And I think you are right that as much as I like this old beat up Jacket, it really doesn’t suit this skinny me anymore. Now I’m going to take this Jacket….” The Doctor paused as he noticed that Rose was holding onto the Jacket tighter and leaning back with it. Patiently he continued in a calm voice,

“I’m going to take it with me back to the TARDIS and I’m going to hang it in our bedroom closet, not the wardrobe. It will be there whenever you want it and I’ll even put it on if you want to roleplay.” The Doctor then made a clicking noise and winked at Rose, who turned her head in a blush. Until his face got a bit more familiar, Rose fancied that she would be blushing more than she had around her old Doctor for a while.

“That was a smile.” He smirked and Rose did not argue,

“I’m going to find something else to wear from now on and you are going to love it, I promise.” Assured The Doctor as he stroked Rose’s arm.

“Promise?” She asked and The Doctor nodded his head and hummed. The Doctor then left with the leather Jacket and the rest of his old clothes, while Rose helped put on dinner with her Mother and Mickey. Mickey was actually surprisingly helpful as he had the ulterior motive of wanting to make sure that the turkey that he had managed to find and bring back to the apartment was edible.

“Well if himself is going to take forever, I say we get started. He can have whatever’s left.” Stated Jackie ad she began to dish out food to Mickey and Rose. Rose was miffed but wasn’t going to argue because she didn’t want to be any more trouble today and she was in actuality, very hungry. She probably would have thrown up due to her hormones and things unrelated to hormones a few times today if she actually had anything in her stomach besides biscuits. Rose couldn’t help but notice the larger sized portion on her plate and Mickey couldn’t help but notice either. Mickey however was the one holding the carving knife and he was going to cut up a sizable piece for himself of the Turkey he was pretty sure was going to be quite tasty. 

The Doctor picked through his wardrobe in the TARDIS deciding which would be his new outfit to wear. For a moment he considered a fancy looking period costume but decided it looked too much like something his old friend Casanova would wear. He had the pressure on him that he had told Rose specifically that she would love his new outfit so he needed to find something that was the perfect balance of style and flare. He wanted to knock Rose off her feet. And that was when he spotted it. The perfect outfit a brown pinstripe suit and a long brown coat. A little searching more and he managed to find a smart looking shirt and tie to go with his suit that completed the look. The Doctor finally appraised his looks in his floor length mirror and his younger else had been right, he was a pretty boy, but this didn’t have to be a bad thing if Rose liked it. In fact, he thought that he looked much better than Casanova. He could work with this face and he was certain that he could make Rose fall for him again. It had already happened twice with very little effort so if he actually was trying at it, surely Rose would fall for him a little faster. He tried his facial muscles one more time and checked his teeth before saying,

“Molto Bene, time to get back to my bride.” The Doctor entered the console room and preceded to park the TARDIS just outside the area in front of Jackie’s apartment building. Specifically in front of the entrance door that led up to Jackie’s flat. The Doctor took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. The Doctor then made his way back to the Tyler flat, his long coat flapping in the London wind like a cape.

The Doctor entered the flat to see that dinner was already in progress. That was good thing. Rose needed to eat and he doubted Mickey would want to wait for him. The Doctor felt his respiratory bypass kick in when Rose finally turned her head and looked at him. What was she going to think? To the Doctor’s great relief, Rose greeted him with the warmest and most brilliant smile. All worries that she did not like the new outfit evaporated from his head and the Time Lord sat down to have an actual Christmas dinner with his family, complete with Christmas crackers. The Doctor couldn’t help but smile at the sight of his Rose, his queen, in her pink paper crown. He thought it quite fitting and regal even though it was just made of paper. Everyone exchanged happy banter in the small party. The only one not having a good Christmas was Harriet Jones who Rose had pointed out on the TV. She was clearly on her way to being ousted from office and The Doctor put on a new pair of spectacles from his pocket to watch the details. With grim satisfaction The Doctor watched Harriet sweat in front of the overwhelming media, but his viewing was interrupted by Jackie’s loud voice declaring, as she held the house phone,

“It's Beth. She says go and look outside.” Rose looked confused and a bit worried so she asked why? She did not want any more surprises today. Jackie didn’t know either, but Beth was not the sort to disappoint, so she made to gather her and Rose’s jackets.

“I don't know, just go outside and look. Come on, shift!” Ordered Jackie as she helped Rose put on her coat so she would not catch cold.

Outside on the Powell estate the ground was covered with white flakes falling from the sky as bright streaks of light cris-crossed the sky above. Rose looked up and marveled at the amazing sight above her. 

“Oh, it's beautiful. What are they, meteors?” Rose asked The Doctor who not as touched by the scene as Rose, replied, 

“It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, it's ash.” Upon this realization Rose saw the scenery in a different light and nervously corrected herself, 

“Okay, not so beautiful.” The Doctor looked to change the subject.

“This is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new. Too bad they only see the bad ones though, sort of gives us middling and benign ones a bad name. Some of us are just passing through after all.” Mused The Doctor as he walked about with his hands in his pockets. Based on several conversations that the two of them had had throughout the day it very much seemed that The Doctor not only wanted her to continue traveling with her, but was also legitimately serious about living together as a married couple with a baby on the way. But she needed all doubt erased, she needed to make sure that that was what he wanted and not something just said because they were in danger or she was crying. Or because he felt he was pressured to do so for moral reasons. Therefore, very cautiously Rose asked The Doctor,

“And what about you? What are you going to do next?” Now that the two of them were possibly taking the first steps together into a new life with each other among the stars, all the old insecurities, as a result of the circumstances that had brought them to this point in the first place, reared their ugly heads to once more test their bond and relationship.

“Well, back to the TARDIS. Same old life.” Smiled The Doctor though a bit nervously for there was still a small twinge of doubt Rose might have changed her mind about continuing to follow an unfamiliar, daft alien man wearing her husband’s wedding ring, through the stars again. Just because Rose was having his baby didn’t mean that she felt that she had to remain tethered to him if she felt that it was too dangerous or that he was more trouble than he was worth. The Doctor’s hearts were racing a mile a minute as he couldn’t help but once more think of every companion who had ever left him after regenerating.

“On your own?” Rose questioned, very much wanting to hear the answer, but also afraid that somehow it would not be the answer that she wanted. Rose was worried that maybe The Doctor did not want her to come anymore because of her condition or perhaps now that he changed he was realizing that she might not suit his taste anymore just like his old clothing didn’t suit him anymore.

“Why, don't you want to come?” The Doctor asked in a slight panic that Rose was now trying to let him down gently. The Doctor was worried that Rose might not want to, at this point or not ever again, travel with him because he changed so much. Or maybe she felt that time and space travel was too dangerous now and that if he wanted to do so, she would have to send him off on his own. He was too lonely to go on traveling without Rose if she didn’t want to. He needed her and he hoped with all his hearts that she wanted to come with him in their home, the TARDIS.

“Well, yeah.” Said Rose a bit startled by his question. The Doctor mistook her sputtering for hesitation and pressed, 

“Do you, though?” Rose assured him that she wanted to still travel with him and The Doctor relieved, confessed to Rose, 

“I just thought, because I changed….I’d be too different now for you to…” He traveled off and Rose admitted with some shame, 

“Yeah, I thought, I thought because things changed you wouldn’t want me to come or that because you changed you might not want me anymore...” 

“You’re my wife, Rose. I'd love you to come. The both of you. Nothing would make me happier.” Stated The Doctor looking like a lost puppy as he pointed to her and then gestured to the baby in Rose’s womb. 

“Okay.” Smiled Rose, relief and joy evident In her voice, She was excited to not only have the opportunity to still travel with The Doctor again, but that he was still requesting that she, his wife, come with him. The Doctor was slouched a bit in a bashful stance that reminded her very much of how her Northern sounding Doctor had looked when he had first asked her to travel with him. It was like a fresh start and Rose smiled and was about to express even more relief that they had worked out this part of their relationship when Mickey, very sad that Rose was not planning to stay, stated in a melancholy voice,

“You're never going to stay, are you?” Asked Mickey very sad at the realization that Rose would never stay where it was safest in his eyes.

“There's just so much out there. So much to see. I've got to.” Explained Rose to her skeptical friend. 

“Yeah.” Said Mickey not amused by Rose’s decision to keep risking her life with her mad husband and while she was pregnant. 

“Well, I reckon you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble.” Jackie scolded her daughter and son-in-law.

“Trouble's just the bits in-between. It's all waiting out there, Jackie, and it's brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures and horizons. I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes.” The Doctor grinned as he looked into Rose’s eyes and used the phrase that his old self always used and he knew that Rose loved.  
“And it is going to be fantastic.” Said The Doctor causing Rose to smile so brightly at the recognition in him. ‘Fantastic!’ At the sound of that word Rose felt her heart warm. She looked at The Doctor’s new brown eyes and she knew that inside this new body of The Doctor’s were her old Doctor and John. Rose was happy and sad though at the realization. Happy that The Doctor was alive. She had her Doctor back but at the same time, she would never see that other man again, never fall asleep to that face being the last thing she saw, or feel the same familiar weight on the bed again. Or hear that Northern accent that charmed her so. Rose could not lie to The Doctor about her feelings for the old him.

“I miss him.” Rose stated truthfully. The Doctor took a deep breath and stated,

“So do I.” And he would. He would miss the Northern accent, how his cropped hair felt when Rose ran her hand through it, how just one scowl of his could chase away any would be suitors of Rose. How his looks commanded respect, or at least he felt they did. He wasn’t yet sure if this new face would have the same affect on people or scare them as much when he wanted. Bucking up from her somewhat sad mood Rose came to the conclusion,

“Well I guess I’m just going to have to learn to love you all over again for yet another time.” The Doctor was delighted at this answer and had a beaming smile on his face. He held out his hand to Rose, sure that she would take it this time. He even wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

“That hand of yours still gives me the creeps.” Noted Rose with a nervous giggle at the regenerated hand, but she took hold of it anyway. The Doctor smiled at the contact. That’s where her hand belonged, in his hand. 

Looking at The Doctor’s new hand reminded Rose of what had newly reappeared on The Doctor’s other hand.

“You’re old self…You never wore that ring. Why’d you decide to put back on the ring?” Asked Rose, not quite having the nerve to look The Doctor directly in the eye as she asked. The Doctor saw the vulnerability in Rose that he had, through his efforts in the past, put in Rose’s head. He had to change that now, what he had done to Rose, having ever made her question the foundation of their relationship was wrong and he aimed to correct that the best he could. With his ringed hand he guided Rose’s head to turn so that she was looking at him directly in the eye. He smiled at her with a look that begged forgiveness and explained,

“Because I was going to die. And to make matters worse I thought that I would never see you again. I wasn’t brave enough to put it back on and commit to you with you standing there. I’m sorry. I was a coward, always a coward, but I at least wanted to show the rest of the universe that I was your husband and willing to hold up my end. Till death do us part. I hope a situation never comes up like that again. And we barely had a reunion after we were together again and you know how my lack of information made that go pear shaped.” Rose, keeping eye contact with The Doctor, and emboldened by his confession, told The Doctor,

“I just wish I could have given your old self a proper send off, if you had to go at all.” The Doctor was touched by Rose and was about to make a romantic retort when Mickey piped up.

“And you’re sure, Rose? You’re sure it’s him? This is what you want?” Asked Mickey, this being his last chance to try to protect her from this life. He needed to know that Rose was, without a shadow of a doubt, doing what she wanted and traveling with the same man as before. The Doctor looked a bit annoyed with Mickey poking at questions already answered and interrupting their mood, but thought of a way to poke right back. 

“Right… And just so you can be sure that it's me...” Said The Doctor with an eyebrow waggle.

“But I'm sure it's you! I..." Protested Rose before she was interrupted by The Doctor. Gently placing a finger of his new hand on her lip, to silence her for a moment, The Doctor leaned in close to Rose. Smoothly he whispered into her ear, so close that his breath tickled her ear, 

“You have a birth mark that looks like (whisper) on your (whisper).” Rose face blushed beet red and she in a voice somewhat flustered declared to the two people in front of her,

“It's him.” Jackie looked a bit scandalized but said nothing. Sort of newlyweds would be newlyweds she figured.

“So, where're we going to go first?” Asked Rose excited as she leaned into The Doctor’s shoulder. 

“Er, that way. No, hold on. That way.” Corrected The Doctor as he pointed up to the stars. 

“That way?” asked Rose. The Doctor nodded and Rose agreed that ‘that way’ seemed like a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: And we are off on to some new… well sort of new… well as new as a retelling can be, adventure. Anyway yes season two is under way and it is going to be fantastic! 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens
> 
> Rose is finally going to get a Doctor to look her over and her condition.


	6. Planning and a New Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose go to New Earth.

**Complications  
  
** by The-Plot-Thinens  
  
 **Chapter 06 – Planning and a New Earth**  
  
  
“First things first, time for Doctor Daddy to run a little prenatal check up…Doctor Daddy does that sound alright to you? The Doctor Daddy, yeah I like it. It’s fine if you call me that.” Smiled The Doctor jovially as he patted Rose’s stomach. Rose rolled her eyes as The Doctor brought out some instruments to begin the exam and she reflected on the past week.

Rose had woken up on the morning of the 26th of December in her mother’s flat in her old room alone. She had yawned, swung her legs over her bed, and then felt the urge to vomit. Fortunately, her path to the bathroom was not blocked and she managed to get to the toilet bowl before making a mess of the place. She wondered briefly as she lost what resembled turkey into the toilet if now that she did not have adrenaline pumping through her, did her body think that ‘yeah, it’s okay, let’s be sick again.’ Lucky her. That was when she was startled by a hand offering her a glass of water and another hand offering a flannel. It was The Doctor. She stared at the offerings for a moment in disbelief. Usually no one but the TARDIS helped her with this and to have The Doctor actively assisting in something as domestic as morning sickness was touching to say the least. Rose rinsed her mouth out and wiped her face and nose clean. Standing up straight after flushing the toilet she was also surprised to see The Doctor then offer her the same morning sickness medication that the TARDIS usually gave her.

“Found these in the TARDIS and thought I’d give them to you.” He smiled a little sheepishly, he was not in the practice of domestics and it was clear that he was unsure of himself, but trying. Rose thanked The Doctor and then swallowed the pills. A new conversation about her appreciation was about to begin but then her mother, who had been awoken by the noise of Rose shuffling about, came in. Right away Jackie had insisted that Rose sit down, have some tea, and something to settle her stomach. Rose did not feel very hungry at the moment. However, for the sake of the peaceful setting they still had, Rose followed her mother into the living room for a sit while her mother prepared tea. All the while The Doctor continued to fuss over Rose too. Rose of course thought that although nice, she would rather that her family save the pampering for when she was as big as a house, because other than a slightly bigger belly, the odd craving, and throwing up, she didn’t really feel that pregnant yet. Rose was struck by the oddity of her situation. If it wasn’t odd enough just being back in her mother’s home after so many months living as a time and space hobo, having The Doctor looking and acting this way, was still taking some getting used to as well. When one thought about it from at least face value it was like a complete stranger was fussing over her and her baby. But it was really The Doctor, she could picture John doing this easily, but The Doctor, wow was he making a concession for her. Sure he had been sweet to Hideki, but who didn’t care for children in need? She guessed that The Doctor being a doting father would be yet another thing to get used to, but that she did not mind. Especially when she had worried in the past about the possibility of raising her child alone. This was turning out quite nice for her.

After an hour of more or less pampering from her mother and husband, The Doctor suggested that Rose come with him to the medical lab on the TARDIS. Rose had no objection to this and after assuring her mother that she was coming back in an hour or two, the couple was on their way to the TARDIS. 

“What’s all this, Doctor?” Asked Rose as she observed the various medical equipment she saw.  
  
“Going to run a few scans to check in on the baby.” Explained The Doctor and before Rose could reply the scan was done.

“But Doctor, Jack already did a scan, he really helped me when I was freaking out about everything. His scan should be still on file.” Stated Rose. Rose was so thankful for Jack and The Doctor seemed glad that Rose wasn't alone and scared on the subject all the time. Of course she wouldn't have had to have been if he wasn't such a git from the start about domestics. He'd self loath some more later, right now he was looking for scans.

The Doctor brought up the old files and began to look them over. At the mention of Jack, Rose was talking about wanting Uncle Jack there for the birth, well not in the room but outside the door until the delivery was done. It was bad enough that she could picture Jack shaking pompoms and encouraging her to ‘Push em out! Way out!’ However, The Doctor heard none of this as he was looking over the past scan and the new one and comparing it with concern. Rose finally noticed that The Doctor was not running his gob and saw the look in his eyes. Something was wrong and if that had something to do with how the baby was doing then that was a huge problem.  
  
“Wot? Rose, these scans are completely different from the last time.” Declared The Doctor as he made the comparison, to which Rose replied,

“What… What do you mean?” The Doctor just continued to analyze the data. Rose, very frustrated at the Doctor’s lack of concentration, shouted a bit panicked,

“Doctor, what is wrong with our baby?!” The Doctor hearing the fear in Rose’s voice felt guilt flush over him and explained,

“First off, the baby is genetically stable, don’t worry about that. But this previous scan, our child was for lack of a better word stitched together rather crudely. It was a mess of my TNA linked together with your DNA and that barely worked as it was. We still would have loved and cared for them regardless, though.” The Doctor wanted to make very clear of that to his wife as genetics was a sensitive subject as it was. He then continued with an impressed voice,

“I’ve never seen a life form have to work this hard to exist. Human and Time Lord Hybrids should be all but impossible to create through sexual reproduction. It would be like mating a human to a chimp. Or at best a tiger to a lion... Close but no cigar. Time Lords are complicated beings, we are loomed together to perfection.”  
  
“No ego there, and I’ll over look you referring me to a chimp or bestiality for the moment, but what I want to know is... Wait loomed? You mean you don’t well, you know to make babies? You’re like... knitted together? Baby Time Lords are knitted like scarves?” Piped up Rose at the comical idea. The Doctor looked slightly aghast that his wife would refer to the scientific marvel of looming together members of his species as ‘knitting’ a Time Lord together. He wasn’t made of yarn but continued,

“Our society felt that it had evolved past the need to reproduce the carnal way. Looming was considered the most acceptable and productive way of creating offspring for one’s house.” Rose was wondering if for that reason, her Time Lord husband didn’t seem to have as much of a sex drive as John Smith had. It had possibly literally been bred out of him. Well at least she knew it wasn't her lack of sex appeal now.

“That makes for a really boring marriage. But what is different about our baby now and if a hybrid is so impossible then how did it happen in the first place? I’ve only… been with you when you were John, so the baby should be all human, but Jack said it was part Time Lord.” Stated Rose to the Doctor. The Doctor took a deep breath and announced,

“This baby… the baby, when you became the Bad Wolf, they absorbed part of the Bad Wolf and its essence is at this very moment, making up for the missing third TNA helix. Even the TARDIS is impressed. This kid is a resourceful survivor if it was their idea to initiate this and not the Bad Wolf’s. It’s strange really the Bad Wolf markers are different from you, but they are you still, it’s a paradox… our baby is a stable paradox! Oh lord, paradox baby proofing the TARDIS is going to be such a headache...sorry, the mind wanders and I follow...but now our baby, they have TNA as orderly as we could hope to expect from a full blooded member of either of our species.” The Doctor wondered what sort of affect such a child was going to have on the universe, but he realized that he didn’t care what it was. He would protect and defend his family, and his child’s right to exist, no matter what came their way or who might object to it. Rose seemed both relieved and horrified that she had done something that had so seriously altered her child. She had done something foolhardy and risked both her life and her child’s and this may yet prove a problem for her child in the future. The Doctor could see the concern on Rose’s face and what looked like guilt. He had to nip that off at once.

“Rose the baby is in no danger, it’s a good thing. And before you start blaming yourself for anything, stop it. You are a great mother and you’ve done wonders protecting them up to this point and I know that you will continue to do the best job ever for our baby. And as for how they are part Time Lord…All I can guess is that when I changed back into a Time Lord, the fob sought out all of my DNA to change back into TNA, including that outside of my body and inside your womb. Wonder if it would have worked at a distance, I guess one could do tests if they wanted. Oh well, I wasn’t meant to solved every mystery…” Rambled The Doctor to Rose a bit nervously, as his last statement might have hinted at a desire to experiment with that idea. 

Rose thought that made sense, so basically her child was all human at one point, then they became part Time Lord, and now thanks to her rescue, part Time Lord, and part Rose/bad wolf. All she wanted was just a healthy child she didn’t care what it was genetically as long as she could deliver them safely. The Doctor then began to take out some other equipment and placed them on to Rose’s abdomen. There was a major difference between his child and himself. This child much to his dismay had only one heart, so they most likely could never regenerate and certainly might live longer than the average human but nowhere near close to outliving himself. They would all die one…no that was a horrible thought and The Doctor pushed it to the back of his head to ignore. The Doctor had other concerns he thought as he placed a very tiny device that was no thicker than a plaster patch over Rose’s abdomen. Rose thought that it was surprisingly warm and asked what it was and what he was doing. 

  
“It’s a heart monitor. Did you know that human babies sometimes suffer from sudden infant death syndrome? Their heart just stops! Only one heart and only one shot to get it right and…” Said The Doctor, almost in a panic. Rose wanted to put him at ease and said,  
  
“Doctor relax a heart monitor is fine for later, but I doubt that we’ll need it right now. I am literally the baby’s life support system. As long as I’m fine, the baby will be fine...” Rose paused a moment and mulled over that statement. She had to tell The Doctor something that she was worried that he would not want to hear, but now she realized that it was very important that they make changes. The situation was really starting to sink in again in this moment of calm.  
  


“Doctor, we can’t take as many risks as we used to. We have the baby to think of now, we’re parents. I’m not saying we can’t do any planet saving, but we need to at least try to avoid dangerous planets.” Much to Rose’s surprise The Doctor did not seem as shocked or devastated at her statement. The Doctor being very anxious to please his wife, especially after all he had put her through in the past 48 hours, assured her,

“We can do anything you’d like. We’ll steer clear of the dangerous planets and only visit safer ones. There are plenty of family safe planets to visit that are interesting enough. Do you like conkers? I’ve been meaning to go back to the intergalactic conkers match in the year 56,004. It’s going to be held on a lava planet near a dwarf star…” Rose raised her eyebrow at The Doctor to which he sheepishly said,

“Still not the worst idea I’ve ever had.”

“True, that was when you decided it would be fun to go scrumping for apples in King Henry VIII’s private orchard.” Rose reminded The Doctor while crossing her arms and still lying on her back on the exam table.

“We still had an apple pie later, didn’t we?” Defended The Doctor.

“You’re missing the point, Doctor. You thought that was going to be harmless fun and we nearly lost our heads!” Scolded Rose in growing concern as to what kind of life that they could offer a child as two danger prone space hobos.

“The word is nearly. And thanks to me you avoided becoming Henry's number four too.” Said The Doctor, trying to brush off forced betrothal and later having your head penciled in for the cutting block as no big deal.

“You are impossible.” Groaned Rose, to which The Doctor said a cheeky ‘thank you’.

“You’re lucky that you’re so cute.” Teased Rose as she pointed at The Doctor accusingly.

“You think I’m cute?!” Asked The Doctor excited to hear a compliment on his new looks from his wife. Rose turned her head but The Doctor could see that her cheeks were red.

“Whatever Doctor, if you for example, have your hearts set on conkers just try to think of some time and place safer, yeah. Conkers in the 1900s on Earth for example is safer than on a lava planet.” Noted Rose.

“Yes ma’am!” Smiled The Doctor, as he made his way to the console so he could set up the trip for later. Before he could leave the room, however, Rose put up her hand and shouted,

“Wait Doctor, don’t you want to know what the baby is? Can’t you tell from all this medical equipment?”

The Doctor then realized that he had not yet told Rose the sex of the baby. He didn’t know how that had slipped his mind. He had been having such a fun time of it earlier during the invasion being vague using terms like junior to describe the baby. He actually had forgotten to tell Rose now, and he was reminded again that humans were different from Time Lords. He was a member of a telepathic species. The second that he had become aware of the baby’s mind he had known if the baby was a boy, girl or something in between, which was sometimes the case, mentally and/or physically, but not usually a problem to a species that no longer used sexual reproduction to ensure the continuation of its species. He just knew what the baby was, accepted it and moved on to the next thought, all he had really been concern about was that it was healthy and that its mind was functioning properly. Which was not something he took as granted with a rare cross species hybrid like his child. And why he better not keep Rose in suspense any longer.

“It’s a girl.” Stated The Doctor with a smile, which Rose after taking a moment to process, beamed back an equally larger smile. She was having a girl, a little girl. Guiltily, a thought flashed in her head that she felt that John would have been so thrilled, but she came back to the present. This was as much the Doctor’s child as John’s and The Doctor was the one who would be helping her raise her.

  
“Yup (pop), smirked The Doctor, and he continued,  
  
“I guess I’m going to have to develop some form of setting on my sonic for cooties to protect her. Because cooties are very real and can be dangerous. They come from this moon 1000 light years away from, oh what’s the name of that planet? It has great summer squash…Anyway, I’ve seen them swarm on their prey and I had to get a cootie shot before the locals let me go. Locals were afraid of it spreading, and eating people. Still ended up here on Earth somehow. They are significantly weakened on Earth due to the presence of seagulls for some reason, so just hope nothing happens to them. Thanks seagulls, but yeah, cooties they can cause very harmful skin irritation especially to younger Gallifreyans, found that out the hard way... Oh, there goes my gob again, any way, yes, new settings for the sonic must be made, since the full vaccination and boosters have to be done over the course of five years.” 

"Wow, vaccinate your kids, yeah? I'll leave that to you to find out. Not even sure how to start on that with hybrid child." Blew out Rose with a puff of her cheeks.  
  
"Just listen to your Doctor and she'll be fine." Smiled The Doctor. Though Rose, of course, grinned back. Rose then got up to head back to her mother’s flat as promised.

  
It was now January 1st and The Doctor was itching to get going in the TARDIS. Personally he would have rather left on the 26th of December, but he was showing consideration for Rose and the fact that Jackie said that she would slap him silly if he tried to steal away her daughter before New Year’s Day. The Doctor had endured the parade of friends and family coming through for the holiday season and it was not easy. Not just for the domestics of it all but having people wondering who he was. Rose had had friends and family at her wedding with John and all noticed his absence. The color from Rose and the Doctor’s face had fallen when Jackie’s cousin had asked where John was and ‘who the handsome man was?’ Both of them were about to make an excuse when Jackie quickly said he was a friend of the family. She then pulled her cousin into the kitchen to discuss the other matter, before Rose could say anything. The subject of John was not brought up again that night. It was awkward since Rose and The Doctor didn’t have a chance to ask Jackie what she had said until after the guests had gone. Jackie said that she had just told her cousin that it was a sensitive subject, that it was not her place to give details and not to bring it up around Rose again. It was decided that The Doctor was allowed to be absent for any more visits with family if he wanted. Which he did not protest to as the TARDIS always needed maintenance.

On a lighter note, Jackie had been thrilled to learn that her grand baby was going to be a girl and was already having fantasies about showing her off proudly to the neighbors in some cute little outfits. Rose had had the benefit of wearing some baggy clothing for warmth in the flat so she did not have to announce her pregnancy yet to their circle, though Jackie had protested. However, Rose had used the three month excuse to silence her mother on that subject, it just felt too awkward to announce it yet. Jackie just had to be content with having the knowledge of her upcoming grandmotherhood to herself and also planning on making sure that The Doctor paid as equal attention to the baby’s human heritage as her alien one. Well at least when she came to visit Grandmum, she would get all the pampering a human grandmother could do. Jackie even offered to babysit whenever they wanted but for no longer than a week at a time, since a baby needed her parents, Jackie loudly explained. Even if one of those parents was a daft alien.  
  
  


The Doctor was starting to power up the TARDIS. He’d thrown his new coat over one of the coral struts of the TARDIS not using the coat rack that he had available. He was a rebel after all. The Doctor was very much looking forward to traveling the stars with Rose and to convince her completely that although so much had changed about their life together, there were still many things that had not. Though some things had changed and they were good too. The Doctor pondered the next place that he should take Rose. He knew where he wanted to take Rose, he wanted to take her to Barcelona, but he wasn’t sure if Rose was yet in the honeymooning mood. He sat on the jumpseat, kicked up his shoes on the TARDIS console and let out a huge puff of air. He had to think of someplace to take Rose that would be meaningful, safer and not too forward as to where he wanted to go with the relationship yet. Conkers, what was he thinking? Conkers! That was a rubbish second first date…or was this a third first date? It was then that The Doctor started fiddling with whatever he could find in his pockets that he placed there earlier in the week. He pulled out the psychic paper and started absent mindedly flipping it open and closed, pondering where to go, about the last time he pretended to be an FBI agent in the United States, while at the same time, wondering for what reason he would need it next. It was then that to his surprise a message not out of his own mind appeared on the paper. Someone was sending him, personally, a psychic message and a feat like that was worth looking into. It appeared that his presence was required on New Earth, in a hospital ward 26 in New New York City. That could prove interesting and not at all dangerous. He found hospitals to be very dangerous places, if you were on the table, but he and Rose were fit as fiddles, so there was no danger of that. He then felt guilty about wanting to look into a mystery when he should be focusing on his marriage and strengthening his bond with Rose.

“Oh, but Rose, loves a good mystery, and it’s a civilized planet. It’s just a hospital, we’ll visit real fast, pick up some kind of baby souvenir in that hospital’s shop and then take Rose to dinner and show in the city afterwards. Two birds, one stone! Ha!” Said The Doctor to himself as he set in the coordinates for the City of New New York.

All the while outside of his magnificent time and space ship, Jackie, his mother-in-law, and Mickey, his wife’s Ex, were with Rose bidding her goodbye. Rose adjusted her heavy looking rucksack on her back as she stood speaking to her mother.

  
“Have you got everything?” Asked Jackie like her daughter was going off to camp or more like war. Rose’s adjustment did not go unnoticed by her mother, who then complained,

“Oh, Rose that’s so heavy! You should have let himself carry that for you.” Rose was not in the mood to argue about her husband with her mother when she was already sad to say goodbye to her. Rose wanted things as pleasant as possible. It was trying enough when you stopped by for a visit all the while assuring your mother it was not your last visit and declared,

  
“I've got everything, don't worry. And it’s nothing I can’t handle. Later on I promise when I start showing more, then I’ll stop carrying heavy things.” Jackie still looked annoyed but she relented.

  
“Oh, alright just be careful.” Begged Jackie with concern for her only child and only grandchild.

  
“I will be, Mum. I got my daughter to think of, yeah.” Assured Rose to her mother.

  
“Oh, I still think you could stand to stay longer. Just promise me that the next time you show up it’s not after the baby has been born.” Pleaded Jackie to her rover of a daughter.  
  


“Okay, I'm going now. I love you!” Smiled Rose to her mother who said the same to her daughter. Mickey on the other hand was not looking very happy. He would miss Rose and would worry about her. Rose gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek before waving good bye and then happily walked into the TARDIS to join her husband.

Rose walked into the TARDIS and up the ramp to the console. Reaching the top she placed down her rucksack and looked at The Doctor who smiled warmly at her. It was quite infectious and Rose found herself doing the same. She was worried that this would feel too weird or wrong to be traveling in the TARDIS with a different looking man. But fortunately it was only just a little odd and she was seeing that she was just very excited to get out among the stars again. Rose was hoping for good times now that she didn’t have a huge secret that she was keeping from The Doctor anymore. She could actually try to enjoy her pregnancy on the TARDIS and maybe show The Doctor the nursery that the TARDIS built for their daughter. Rose remembered that she probably should put away her bag in case the flight was rough and looked to her bag and saw that it was already gone. This happening anywhere but the TARDIS would feel creepy, but the TARDIS to Rose was as welcome a presence in her mind now as her own thoughts and if the TARDIS wanted to help her unpack then that was fine with Rose.

“Alone at last.” Smirked The Doctor as Rose came near to admire the console. At least that was what she told herself, but really she had been finding herself admiring The Doctor’s rear end the last couple of days. A few times she had actually wanted to grab at it, but she was still adjusting to The Doctor, and following that instinct would feel strange. She knew that they would get there, to that level of intimacy, with time but for now they were going back to basics.  
  


 **“** So where are we going?” Asked Rose very excited to be traveling again. 

  
“Further than we've ever gone before.” Said The Doctor with glee as he pulled a lever and they were off through time and space.

The TARDIS materialized across the river from a massive looking city. Flying cars zoomed overhead, obviously they all had important places to go this morning. The Doctor had held out his hand to Rose and entreated for her to follow him. Rose went for his hand but the Doctor then slipped out the door with a playful look on his face that begged to be followed. Rose took his challenge to catch him and rushed out of the TARDIS only to have her feet sink slightly in a grassy field that smelt odd. Not unpleasant, but odd. It was overcast but still fairly bright outside. Rose spotted The Doctor beside the TARDIS staring out at a massive metropolis. Hearing Rose behind him, The Doctor encouraged Rose to come to his side and began to slip into tour guide mode, which Rose always enjoyed.

  
“It's the year five billion and twenty three. We're in the galaxy M87, and this? This is New Earth.” Said the Doctor proudly and Rose was floored at the information once it had finally processed. She didn’t think that she would ever be jaded to Time Travel. She then spotted the hover cars zipping overhead to the city and was amazed. She found herself reminded of the second back to the future movie,

  
“That's just. That's just…” Said Rose trying to find the right words. The Doctor was puffing up with pride at Rose’s reaction and in a voice that was all confidence he smirked,

  
“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Rose felt no need to bring the Time Lord down a peg because this was truly amazing and she said as much.

  
“That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never.” Crowed Rose as she jumped up and down in excitement. What fun they would have here, she didn’t even know where they were to start.

“Different ground beneath my feet, different sky. What's that smell?” Said Rose. She had got another whiff of something strange in the air and needed to know what it was. The Doctor reached down to the green grass and pulled some from the ground before saying,

  
“Apple grass.” Rose then placed her hand on The Doctor’s and brought it closer to her nose to confirm that it really was the grass that smelt of apples. The Doctor was surprised at the gesture, but once he felt Rose’s breath on his fingers, he was grateful for it.

  
“Apple grass.” Confirmed Rose in an official sounding voice. The Doctor just nodded his head in agreement. He was reminded of other times when he had felt the breath of Rose Tyler Smith on his skin. Rose could feel a tension between the two of them again. An odd combination of shyness, longing and sexual frustration of not knowing what were the game rules just yet, but trying to feel for them as you went. That desire to want to let go but also the fear of what could happen if you did. Rose knew that they were not starting over but a strange limbo between what they used to be and starting over, and she knew it was hard on the both of them. Rose wasn’t oblivious to the fact that The Doctor was being more, patient, more domestic, and flirtatious all for the sake of their relationship. She was finding herself warming up every hour to her new Time Lord and maybe soon she would have warmed up enough for them to be in the same place they were just before he had regenerated. Once they got there, then who knew what would happen, but she needed to let him know that she appreciated all that he did for her and that, yes, they were going to get there. It was just a little more time that was needed. Grabbing The Doctor’s hand with both of hers she said to The Doctor,

“It's beautiful. Oh, I love this. Can I just say, travelling with you, I love it.” That was probably the closest Rose felt safe saying to her new Doctor that she still loved him. They were still feeling for the bottom of the pool with the new dynamic added to their relationship after all. The Doctor beamed at these words and said just before pulling her off to their new adventure,

  
“Me too. Come on.” And in much the same fashion The Doctor was also telling Rose that he loved her. The Doctor had spotted the perfect place for them to sit down and have a little rest together further along the hillside. Ever the gentleman, The Doctor laid down his big coat onto the grass which would be big enough for both of them to lie comfortably. The Doctor helped Rose to her side of the coat and then after a bit of hesitation he straightened the coat out so that his end of the tail of the coat was closer to Rose. Trying to be real smooth, the Time Lord then sat down and rested his arm on the top of the Jacket. Rose got the message, he was offering his arm as a pillow and much to The Doctor’s joy, Rose accepted. He had never been happier to be a pillow before in his life, he thought as Rose rested her head on his outstretched arm. This was the first time that the two of them had laid down like this next to each other in a week. Not because The Doctor didn’t want to but he worried that Rose needed to be around him more outside of the bedroom before inside since he changed. He didn’t want to subject Rose to awkwardly sleeping next to a strange body that she was not used to. Rose had also been nervous but not for the reason The Doctor had thought. She was worried about forcing herself on him after he had changed so much. He was a whole new man and she wanted to give him time to adjust and know himself again. If he decided that he wanted to lie in a bed together than that was fine. They had had an awkward moment before Rose had gone to bed that night on Christmas day, but The Doctor had saved them from silence by joking that he was going to tinker with the console since he had gotten plenty of sleep already. Rose thought that this had made sense. A person who had been in a coma would surely be a little put off by sleep for a bit. That being settled Rose had gone to sleep in her old bed in the flat that smelt of The new Doctor, which she hoped would help her get used to her husband’s new body faster too.

Using his superior sense of smell The Doctor unknowingly to Rose took in her scent and let its sensation relax him. The Doctor felt Rose adjust herself closer and the two continued to look out at the water towards the city among the taller grass that sheltered them from the wind blowing lightly across the hillside. 

  
“Just think in a few months I’ll probably find this position very uncomfortable, yeah?” Laughed Rose as she placed a hand over her growing abdomen. The Doctor’s eyes went down to Rose’s stomach and he smiled at the thought of the new life they had unwittingly, but not unwantedly created.

“Oh, I was reading up on that, I’ll show you plenty of comfortable positions for you to take in bed.” Said The Doctor in an overly helpful voice. And no sooner had he finished talking he realized how what he had said could be taken another away entirely. Any doubt that Rose’s mind had not gone there was snuffed out by the color red that Rose’s cheeks turned. The Doctor found himself blushing too and worried that Rose would think he was being suggestive, although he wished that he could be with her, but it was still too soon he felt. The object of this trip was to make Rose feel anything but uncomfortable to be around him while adventuring. Trying to save himself the Doctor said,  
  


“I didn’t mean it that, well I would like, but not if you didn’t want…not that I expect you….So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted.” The lecturer in The Doctor then kicked it into high gear and he just as well should have shouted, ‘Oh, look a distraction!’ to switch Rose’s attention on something else. Rose could see that The Doctor was just as nervous as she was, and it made her laugh to herself that they were in a way struggling through the same problem of trying to get to know each other again. It was like a first date.

  
“That was our first date.” Smiled Rose, breaking the tension and giving The Doctor a happy memory to focus on. The Doctor grateful that Rose was being so amiable, even with his slip up. Not that she wasn’t usually amiable. Any way it gave him confidence and relaxed him enough to smirk back,

  
“We had chips.” He loved any chance he had to remind Rose that he still remembered everything that they did together. That those memories were just as important to him and indeed remembered. And he wanted to show her that he still and never stopped loving her. Rose laughed happy and relieved that he remembered. Also the quirky little way he would talk Rose was finding charmed her every time and he could always make her giggle.

“So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then find this place.” Explained The Doctor as he waved his hand, gesturing the planet. It was actually amazing, but mathematically there had to be at least one planet out their just like Earth.

“Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in.” Finished The Doctor on his explanation of the planet that they lay on.

  
“What's the city called?” Asked Rose, she had been staring at it long enough, she wanted to know what such an amazing city across the water was called.

  
“New New York.” Replied The Doctor matter-of-factly. Rose thought that The Doctor was pulling her leg and expressed her disbelief, but The Doctor was insistent.

  
“It is. It's the city of New New York. We're even standing on New Long Island looking at it! New New York City. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. Would sort of make that old Sinatra song a bit of a labored effort now, wouldn’t it? That many News. What?” Asked The Doctor as he spotted a quite inquisitive grinning look on Rose’s face that was not upsetting but curious to him.

  
“You're so different.” Rose stated simply. The Doctor for a moment was worried that that was a problem but then realized that it was not meant as an insult, accusation, disappointment, or inquiry. It was just different. The Doctor wished she had said more to explain what she was feeling and meant by that statement.

  
“New New Doctor.” Joked The Doctor but feeling insecurities bubbling up again, still, he thought better of it and of the mentioning that he was no longer his old self but a new self. Well he was new outside but inside he was the same him that loved his wife. He just wished that he wasn’t constantly questioning if what he did with Rose in his old form was okay now. He wondered vaguely if this had been anything like Rose had felt trying to relate to him when he had changed from his human self to a Time Lord. And if it was, he was an absolute git.

The Doctor might have been being paranoid, but much to The Doctor’s dismay, he had learned earlier in the week that Rose did not even remember their last kiss they shared and he had actually initiated with her. He didn't want to dive any deeper out of fear that the old him was a topic still too raw. Just because Rose was ready to accept him as The Doctor, and loved traveling with him, did not mean that she was ready to be with him like she had wanted with his old self. He didn’t want her to feel pressured to accept him all together right away and wanted their relationship to move naturally in a way that felt right for both of them. He wanted when they were together again in that sense to be perfect. She was probably still mourning the loss of his other body and The Doctor was okay with that. He would wait for as long as he had to for Rose to want to be with him in this new body. He just hoped that it wouldn't take too long in his selfishness. The Doctor had also been reading up on human pregnancy and sometimes females would become very uncomfortable. Such activities that she had had in mind with his last self and if he were honest, what he really wanted to do now, might be a while off still even if she were ready to bring their relationship to that point. 

Rose was beginning to like all the 'new' jokes that The Doctor was making and hoped that she too could get on it before they left the planet. Rose giggled at his earlier comment, ‘new new Doctor’, and The Doctor once more was laughing along with Rose at his silliness. 

He loved Rose’s laugh. It always made him feel better, even when sometimes she was laughing at him. He might tell her one day that when he was his old self he went out of his way to make her laugh with some clownish behavior or remark. That old him, really did worship Rose and as ridiculous a concept as it was, he still was feeling like he was competing with himself. He would be funnier. He would entertain Rose more than his old self had. When he tripped up and Rose laughed at the ridiculous states she would find him in, like the time he had gotten himself covered in a cake-like substance when he had tried to impress Rose at a festival with his juggling skills, he wouldn’t be all grumpy but take it on the cheek and laugh at himself too. He didn’t want to make Rose forget about his old self, he just wanted her not to feel like she had gotten a raw deal or watered down version of her old Doctor. The Doctor realized that he felt very insecure and he did not like it.  
  


“Can we go and visit New New York, so good they named it twice?” Asked Rose with a hint of seduction in her voice, but before that could register to the Time Lord his high speed brain had already suggested,

  
“Well, I thought we might go there first.” He then pointed to an elegant pair of curved skyscrapers standing apart from the city on their side of the river. The Building was very sterile looking with a large green crescent moon on the side.

  
“Why, what is it?” Questioned Rose as she scrunched her eyes to get a better look at the building in the distance. The wind was making it a little hard to see now. Getting a bit serious now The Doctor explained to his wife,

  
“Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side. That's the universal symbol for hospitals. I got this. A message on the psychic paper.” Which the Doctor then produced and showed to Rose. The paper then flashed the words, ‘Ward 26. Please Come’. Sort of a futuristic telegram, thought The Doctor jokingly to himself, just needed the ‘STOP’ at the end. 

  
“Someone wants to see me.” Said The Doctor with a hint of obvious interest in his voice.   
  


“Hmm. And I thought we were just sight-seeing.” Said Rose a little annoyed that the real reason he had brought her here was to run an errand and not strictly pleasure. But she was also excited that they had a mystery too and she wasn’t one to leave a question unanswered. Who was this mysterious person who wanted to see The Doctor and had the means to send him a message so amazingly directly? Those thoughts alone did intrigued her, but she still couldn’t rush into danger anymore on purpose.

“We will be doing that, after the visit. I got a play and dinner all lined up. Lion King!” Assured The Doctor very worried that Rose was miffed with him. But Rose honestly wasn’t, she could compromise easily and it wasn’t like they were on a schedule. They didn’t have to be back in time for anything, except the birth of their child, and it wasn’t like they had to worry about an expensive hotel fee. Their home they could take with them and park anywhere they like. She was concerned about a few things about visiting a hospital though, but Rose had heard the distress on The Doctor’s voice and said,

“It is fine Doctor, just... is it going to be a problem for the baby? Alien germs in the hospital and all? Do I even have all my vaccinations for this time? Well I guess there is no way I could… And I’m a rare case, hmm? I’m carrying a Time Lord Hybrid, yeah. No one’s going to want to experiment on me?” The Doctor understood Rose’s concerns, but that was worry to apply to an earlier age in time. He was also slightly hurt that she would think that he would bring her intentionally to a place that might put her and the baby in danger. But it was also endearing that she was this protective of their offspring too so he decided not to be offended. Rose was only trying to be a good mother and it wasn’t like there wasn’t the added pressure that this was probably the only child that they would ever have since their daughter was only here because of a serious of rare circumstances.

“Usually you have nothing to fear from a hospital if you walk into it under your own power, Rose. This is a civilized planet. No one will give us a second look. And they keep these hospitals so clean you could eat off the bathroom floor without a care, Rose. Not that you’ll have to. And I would never endanger the two of you intentionally, you know that, Rose.” Said The Doctor to alleviate Rose’s worries. Rose felt a bit silly for being overly worried. She knew that The Doctor would keep her safe anywhere they went and he had kept her safe to this point. Well she was still alive and had all her body parts so that qualified as being kept safe to her. Rose then thought that it could be interesting to see what hospitals looked like in the future.

“Come on, then. Let's go and buy some grapes. If they still exist…” Rose joked to ease any leftover tension. Visiting someone in the hospital wasn’t asking too much after all. Little did The Doctor and Rose know that almost the second they had left the TARDIS they had been watched by a very familiar spider-like robot.

  
  


The closer The Doctor got to the hospital the more his confidence began to waver. He had just finished telling Rose that it was completely safe and now he was having second thoughts coming up on the giant exoglass doors. As they walked through the doors he accidently let it slip out,

“I hate hospitals.”  
  
  


“The Doctor, hates hospitals? Well no body likes em, you’re just glad it’s there when you need it. Bit rich coming from you.”

  
“I can't help it. I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps.” Whined The Doctor and Rose giggled. What did he have some kind of phobia about them like some did about going to the dentist?

“I thought you said it was safe?” Asked Rose, a little nervous but more amused by The Doctor’s nervousness.

“It is, but they still give me the creeps. You try waking up in a morgue drawer and see how you feel about...” Said The Doctor indignantly, but Rose was now distracted by the sights and sounds of the hospital lobby. The PA system was giving out information and everything looked clean and relaxing.

  
“Very smart. Not exactly NHS.” Said Rose amazed as she looked at a nice sitting area up ahead and saw people all in white with strange hats that covered their faces walking by. The Doctor would have been miffed that she wasn’t listening to his horrifying tale, but then noticed that something was missing from the hospital that was very important to him.

  
“No shop. I like the little shop.” He announced in disappointment. He had wanted to get a little something for the baby…well a little something to give Rose that was for the baby. There was nothing wrong with building up thoughtful brownie points with your expectant wife.

  
“I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything.” Noted Rose, as she spun around slowly to look up at the ceiling. The Doctor thought that that was a cute and hopeful idea but explained nonchalantly,

  
“The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war.” Rose finished her circle and then caught a glance at what appeared to be a woman walking past her in the same white outfit she had seen some other people wearing earlier. Only this time they did not have their face covered. Rose realized that the faces of the nursing staff in their nun-like wimples and habits resembled that of a cat. Rose stared a bit dumbfounded and very rudely as the woman walked by Rose with a slight nod as she made eye contact. Rose could not help but follow the strange woman with her eyes as she walked away and finally finding her words said to her husband, while pointing still rudely,

  
“They're cats.” The Doctor for once was not being the rude one and chastised his wife’s behavior, telling her,

  
“Now, don't stare. Think what you look like to them, all pink and yellow.” Rose had never thought about it that way before. Was being pink and yellow weird enough to point out? Sure she thought aliens looked weird, but she probably did too. She only had the coincidence that she looked Time Lord so that The Doctor could easily move among her species unnoticed after all. How weird must she look to a cat by not having whiskers, but a primate-like nose instead of catlike one? Maybe that was why her cat growing up always stared at her. The Doctor, then got distracted and pointing off to a little office on the ground floor, declared,

“That's where I'd put the shop. Right there.” Rose pondered a bit more and didn’t realize that The Doctor meant for her to follow him as he walked into the nearest lift alone.

  
“Ward 26, thanks!” He requested to the elevator computer. Rose heard The Doctor’s request in the lift and then realized that The Doctor was leaving for the ward. A bit scared, because she didn’t know exactly where she was supposed to go, Rose shouted for him to hold the elevator. Rose saw The Doctor’s face, he realized that he had mistakenly left Rose behind as the doors closed in Rose’s face and the lift started to rise.

“Oh, too late. I'm going up.” Shouted The Doctor through the door apologetically and annoyed at the stupid domestic mistake he had made.

“It's all right, there's another lift.” Shouted Rose back to The Doctor as she slapped the call panel for the adjacent lift. She would just have to race him to the right floor, but at this point there was no chance of her winning the race.   
  


“Ward 26.” The Doctor reminded his wife, he didn’t want her getting lost. He wasn’t worried that she would be in any danger. He just wanted to get in and out fast so he could spend more time with Rose. The Doctor then remembered something that he had forgotten to tell Rose, and wanting to warn her so she would not be too startled shouted,

“And watch out for the disinfectant.” He barely heard Rose ask ‘watch out for what?’ and he tried to shout ‘DISINFECTANT’ more clearly, but Rose just wasn’t hearing him he was too far up the shaft. The Time Lord was now very annoyed.

“The disin.... Oh, you'll find out.” Grumbled The Doctor giving up. She would just have to be a little surprised is all. Rose no longer being able to hear The Doctor and realizing that the lift was moving further up the building, resigned herself to enter the neighboring lift. Rose walked in a bit nervously, it looked like a regular elevator enough, a bit fancy but recognizable. Were elevators the same in this time? Not seeing any buttons to push, Rose decided to do as The Doctor had and said a little unsure,

“Um, Ward 26, thanks.” The lift then to her surprise felt like it was going down, but where ever it was going had to be Ward 26.  
  


“Commence stage one disinfection.” Said the PA system in both lifts. The Doctor knew what was coming, but Rose did not. So while The Doctor more or less enjoyed his drenching that followed as he was bathed in disinfecting solution, Rose started screaming in surprise. Was that suppose to happen she wondered, but just as soon as she was getting used to the warm spray, she was shot with a spray of talcum-like powder, that amazingly did not stick to her clothing. Rose blinked her eyes in confusion, but then she was being blow dried clean. A few moments more, Rose finally was getting the hang of this disinfecting spray cleaning and was straightening her hair as best she could in one of the mirrors. Whatever this solution was she had been bathed in, it dried very quickly. A little part of her was however disappointed that The Doctor and her had not taken the same lift together. Otherwise she might have gotten to see the new him get wet too, which she would have enjoyed for more than a few amusing reasons.

Now all dry The Doctor emerged from the lift to see yet another clean floor, but this time sectioned off with areas for beds. Merrily he made his way to find the mysterious person who had contacted him among the occupants of the Ward. 

‘It straight forward enough, Rose will have no trouble finding me.’ Thought The Doctor as walked passing the other lift. Rose probably wasn’t done disinfecting yet, and if she were not happy about it then it was probably best to give her a few minutes to calm down. Coward every time. Rose could be almost as scary as his mother-in-law when she was genuinely angry. 

Rose also came out of the lift clean but unlike the clean and pristine floors she had seen earlier this floor looked very different and disused to her. Trash littered the floor. Rose was creeped out enough by the dark and foreboding hallway as it was. She didn’t need what happened next. Some ways ahead of her was a hunched over creepy looking man all dressed in white standing among the rubbish on the floor. 

“The human child is clean.” Stated the man. This did not give Rose too much information then what she already knew and if the state of this hallway was anything to go one, then something was not right. Still hoping that she was mistaken, but strongly feeling she wasn’t asked,

  
“Er, I'm looking for Ward 26?”

  
“This way, Rose Tyler Smith.” Instructed the creepy man who then ran off down the hallway. Rose now knew without a doubt that something was wrong. How did he know her name? Had The Doctor told him? But then where was he? She really hoped that they would have a laugh about this later, but feeling vulnerable, she picked up a rusty metal bar and followed carefully. If this thing did anything more that made her feel her baby was threatened, then she was going to crack the guy’s skull open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s notes: This chapter actually needs cultural notes if you aren’t familiar with old British games, and shenanigans.
> 
> Conkers is a traditional children's game in Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of Horse Chestnut trees. The name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one breaks.
> 
> Scrumping - Stealing fruit, especially apples, from someone else's trees. British. It's considered less bad than, say, shoplifting, but adults still disapprove.
> 
> Lucky me the same episode is being group watched by Russell T and the internet! I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I’m actually sorry to leave it off here, but I made myself a promise that chapters wouldn’t be any longer than 9,000 words from now on. That includes author’s notes. It gets a bit hard to manage otherwise. I find myself falling asleep doing proof reads at night. The next chapter will make up for stopping here. Anyway the fun stuff, it’s going to be a baby girl! I already have a name picked out, but you are going to have to wait a while yet to meet her, so please stay with me. Also it kills me that I have to wait so long to let out some special chapters I finished for down the road, but I guess it just gives me time to make it better if I want. 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	7. The B*tchy Body snatcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra has control of Rose and she's after The Doctor.

**Complications  
  
by the Plot-Thinens**

Chapter 07 The B*tchy Body snatcher

The Doctor, having found the Ward that he was looking for, now had to go about the business of finding out whom, among these dozens of patients, was the person that he was meant to be visiting. The Doctor had been stopped at reception by a group of veiled cat nurses of which one escorted the Doctor on his tour of the Ward. The Doctor and the cat nun nurse had been walking a little while and finally came through some exoglass doors to the first room full of patients. The nurse did not seem set on making conversation and The Doctor hated quiet, quiet made his mind think of places he rather not think about. Disliking the silence The Doctor looked about the advance medical ward and declared,  
  


“Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one. Just a shop, so people can shop.” The nurse finding this an odd topic removed her veil and stated,   
  


“The hospital is a place of healing.” She could not understand why this man should think that a shop should be in a hospital. If you wanted to shop you could just go to one of the many shops in the city. That was pretty much where everyone went to on this planet that was paying a visit for worldly reasons.   
  


“A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people.” Trailed off The Doctor as he thought about how happy Jackie got when shopping. A fact that he had observed first hand as John and as this himself now. Jackie had wanted to go shopping with Rose. The Doctor, wanting to stay by Rose’s side and protect her and their child, had more or less made it look like he was agreeing to come along. Jackie had been so excited that her daughter was having a baby that they must have toured every baby shop within a 50 mile radius of the Powell Estate. He thought that they were going to walk away with more baby things then even the TARDIS had room for, especially when Rose had let it slip that the Doctor pretty much had unlimited credit. The Doctor’s lamenting about his Mother-in-law was interrupted when the cat nurse escorting him, declared,  
  


“The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help, and to mend.” The Doctor ambled pass the first cubicle, not really looking at it, but that was enough to raise the hackles of the personal aid of the patient occupying it.  
  


“Excuse me! Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York!” Hissed the woman. The Doctor’s attention had then been immediately turned to the shrieking woman and that was when he noticed the patient’s condition. And what a shame it was.   
  


“That's Petrifold Regression, right?” Asked The Doctor very worried for the man. The man almost unable to speak for his stiffening jaw uttered,   
  


“I'm dying, sir. A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this.” The woman was quick to her boss’ defense, worrying that his statement could be used against him and snarled,   
  


“Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance.”   
  


“Frau Clovis! I'm so weak.” Whispered the Duke to his aid who then tightly clasped the dying man’s hand. It looked like she was about to say something to the Duke, but then turned to their ‘audience’ and demanded,   
  


“Sister Jatt. A little privacy, please.” Having no problem in granting her wish The Doctor and Jatt walked on.  
  


“He'll be up and about in no time.” Assured the Cat nurse, but The Doctor was not as optimistic.   
  


“I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He's turning to stone. There won't be a cure for oh, a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue.” Declared The Doctor in a sad voice. The Cat nun however was not put off by his comment and firmly stated,   
  


“Have faith in the Sisterhood.” The cat nun then looked about agitated wishing that they could find who the man was looking for so that she could go back to work.

“But is there no one here you recognize? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient.” Said Jatt with a hint of irritation on her voice, she was a nurse and a nun but even her patience had a limit. The Doctor however had his gaze fixed to his left and with a smile on his face. He believed that he had solved his mystery.  
  


“No, I think I've found him.” Smiled The Doctor. There inside a large container was a huge face by the picture window at the end of the ward that had the loveliest view of the city across the water. It was the face of Boe. Relieved that they had found who the man was looking for Jatt gladly handed him off to,   
  


“Novice Hame, if I can leave this gentleman in your care?” Asked Jatt, who began to walk away but before she could get far from The Doctor, he requested,   
  


“Oh, I think my friend got lost. Mrs. Rose Tyler Smith. Could you ask at reception?” If that was all it took to be rid of him then Jatt gladly agreed, something about the man just smelt of trouble to her.   
  


“Certainly, sir.” She answered and left. Hame was a much younger looking cat nun. She was the newest to the Sisterhood and quite quiet and soft spoken. The Doctor thought her a much nicer change to the stoic and very businesslike cat nun who he had just parted company with.  
  
  


“I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or…” Hame began to say leaving him to fill in the blank. The Doctor then replied,   
  


“We met just the once on Platform One with my wife. What's wrong with him?” Hame felt bad that he had to learn this way. She wished that she had better news to give the gentleman but all she could report was,   
  


“I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying.” This was very sad news to The Doctor who asked what he was dying of.   
  
  


“Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that's impossible.” Said Hame very solemnly.

The Doctor smirked at the word impossible. That word pretty much summed up his entire life up to this point. Smirking The Doctor replied,

“Oh, I don't know. I like impossible. I’ve got two impossible beings in my life right now, why not a third?” The Doctor then knelt down to be at eye level with the Face of Boe and hoped that he would recognize him without the leather and cropped black hair. He had a different voice too, so The Doctor wondered how easy it would be to convince him.

“I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me, It's The Doctor.” He said gently to the ancient being so not to disturb him too much.

Rose continued to make her way down the corridor, metal club in hand. She heard music playing and passed through some plastic flaps over a door way. There a reel to reel projector was showing a film of a party. If there was anything that Rose was expecting to see it was certainly not a form of movie projecting that was outdated already in her time. What was it doing here in this time and in this dungeon like place? She knew that The Doctor had told her that the people of the future liked retro but this was still very out of place. As Rose focused on the projection instead of its projector, she realized that it also had sound. She saw and heard a blond woman on the film and then heard her speak.

“I mean, you never know what your life is going to be like, ever. I'm bored with this drink. Anyway. Oh, hello darling! Now, don't. Stop it.” Said the woman as she socialized and flirted with so many people in the movie. Then it clicked.  
  


“Wait a minute, that's…” Said Rose as she recognized the voice on the projection. She couldn’t believe it but that was Cassandra’s voice and she wanted to make her discovery known to the odd person who had led her here. Turning around and on the defensive she saw someone she was not expecting, Cassandra.   
  


“Peekaboo!” Declared Cassandra condescendingly. Rose was startled to see Cassandra to say the least. Rose was filled with fear and motherly concern for her child knowing what danger was usually around this being. Instinctually she lifted her metal rod up and threateningly pointed it at Cassandra.  
  


“Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra.” Rose hissed at her enemy.

“Why? What do you think I'm going to do? Flap you to death?” Jeered Cassandra not being able to believe the ignorance that she saw in the human girl. Rose had to agree with that statement, but she was still worried about the creepy man lurking behind Cassandra.

  
“Yeah, but what about Gollum?” Asked Rose concerned as she brandished her club at the little creepo. Unconcerned Cassandra explained,   
  


“Oh that's just Chip. He's my pet.” At those words Chip spoke up as a little lap dog might bark at an unfamiliar person,   
  


“I worship the mistress.” Cassandra then demanded that Chip moisturize her which he did happily with a large spray bottle. Cassandra then explained to Rose,  
  


“He's not even a proper life form. He's a force grown clone. I modeled him on my favorite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs.” Rose’s mind went to a place that she rather not have had it gone with regards to needs. Hoping that she had the wrong idea Rose asked,   
  


“I hope that means food. How comes you're still alive?”   
  


“After you murdered me.” Hissed Cassandra to which Rose quickly defended,   
  


“That was your own fault.” Chip then in a very defensive voice explained,  
  


“The brain of my mistress survived. And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin.” That explained most of it but didn’t tell the whole story thought Rose.  
  


“What about the skin? I saw it. You, you got ripped apart.” Asked Rose in a mocking tone.  
  


“That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body. This piece is the back.” Said Cassandra and this news only made Rose smirk and laugh as she realized the possibility.   
  


“Right! So you're talking out of you’re a…” Laughed Rose but was interrupted by Cassandra who commanded that she ask not.   
  


“The mistress was lucky to survive. Chip secreted m'lady into the hospital.” Stated Chip protectively of his mistress. Rose realized then that the two of them were here secretly and not actual patients or staff. To which Chip went on about how he stole medicine for Cassandra and as he approached his mistress began to stroke the flap of skin that was Cassandra.  
  


“Helps m'lady. Soothes her, strokes her.” Rose would like to be anywhere else right now for many reasons and commanded,   
  


“You can stop right there, Chip.” She had no desire to learn any more about his duties to his mistress.   
  


“But I'm so alone, hidden down here. The last Human in existence.” Lamented Cassandra, but Rose was having none of that.   
  


“Don't start that again. They've called this planet New Earth.” Growled Rose, but Cassandra simply dismissed it as a vegetable patch.   
  


“And there's millions of Humans out there. Millions of them.” Bragged Rose to her disillusioned ‘cousin’ who, by mere accident of biology, was probably the most genetically related to her than any other human at this point. Again Cassandra dismissed this claim and called the humans on New Earth, mutant stock. Rose was now at her patience end. What was so wrong with evolving? If you don’t evolve you get stuck. A dead end. Even she was doing her part to evolve the species. She had an impossible Human Time Lord hybrid in her womb, who she was growing ever more concerned for as she spent more time in this freak show’s company. They had brought her here for a reason and it could be for no good reason. That was for sure.  
  


“They evolved, Cassandra. They just evolved, like they should. You stayed still. You got yourself all pickled and preserved, and what good did it do you?” Questioned Rose, but Cassandra was looking ahead at the projection, lost in memories of happier times.   
  


“Oh, I remember that night. Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that it all became such hard work.” She grumbled towards the end. Rose just rolled her eyes at the flap of skin.   
  


“Well, you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that.” Said Rose dismissively, looking now for a change to bow out and get back to her husband. Definitely warn him that these two were down here and to tell security.   
  


“But I've not been idle, Rose, tucked away underneath this hospital. I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something.” Warned Cassandra. That peaked Rose’s interest a bit, but she was still making her way towards the exit.   
  


“What do you mean?” She asked as she casually backed away.   
  


“Oh these cats have secrets. Hush, let me whisper. Come close.” Entreated Cassandra, but Rose wasn’t stupid enough to do that. Rose and her baby were getting out of there.  
  


“You must be joking if you think I'm coming anywhere near you.” Said Rose first with a laugh, but the last part with a hiss. Rose then made her break for the exit, backing away as fast as she could, only to be grabbed by an energy field as she tried to leave the room. Her hands were held up and Rose was unable to move. She was very scared for her baby and herself. She knew that this skin was capable of killing. Was this the revenge killing that the skin no doubt wanted against her? Rose was scared. If she shouted out that she was pregnant, would the skin spare her life for the sake of her daughter? Probably not. Cassandra only cared about her own survival, not the survival of other members of her species, even if she bluffed that her child was all human. Which of course it was not and that sort of ‘mixing’ Cassandra hated most of all.   
  


“Chip, activate the psychograft.” Demanded Cassandra of her slave. No sooner had Cassandra’s spider spotted Rose outside, she had her servant busy at finishing the psychograft. Now that she had the most human female body she could find at her disposal, Cassandra was leaving this chapter of her long life behind.   
  


“I can't move. Cassandra, let me go! What're you doing?” Shouted Rose in a panic. Light then streamed down from a contraption over her head and encircled her body. Rose was terrified she had failed to keep her baby and herself safe. Was she to die and The Doctor wouldn’t even know what happened to her? How much was this going to hurt him? Her last thought, before she went into what felt like a sleep, were of her Doctor and the hope that he would eventually recover from whatever grief was to come for him.   
  


“The lady's moving on. It's goodbye trampoline, and hello blonde.” Announced Cassandra as a whoosh of energy from Cassandra transferred to Rose. Once the transfer was complete everything switched off and Rose’s body collapsed to the floor on its side. Chip quickly ran over to the body that his Mistress now inhabited to give her any aid that he could.  
  


“Mistress?” He asked with concern as Cassandra began to come around and out of habit she told Chip to,   
  


“Moisturize me.” Chip went to grab the bottle of moisturizer and that was when Cassandra realized that she once again had limbs to control! She was in sensory overload.

“How bizarre. Arms, fingers…” Noted Cassandra as she took stock of her new body parts. It was almost like being a baby again and learning you had arms and legs to move. Something then she noticed was blocking the view of one of her new eyes. She focused in on and realized that it was,

“Hair!” Said Cassandra grabbing it in shock before wobbly getting to her new feet and racing as fast as she could for a mirror. Balance was coming to her quickly, like a bicycle it seems she didn't forget how to walk even though it had been ages since she had legs or even feet.

“Let me see! Let me see... Oh my God. I'm a chav!” Cassandra shrieked the last part in horror.

The Doctor handed Nurse Hame a cold cup of water. It was the least that he could do for her keeping an eye on his friend. Well they were sort of friends. Actually they had not talked too much at the time they had just met, but saving the Face of Boe’s life from burning up probably had endeared The Doctor to him. Other than that they didn’t really know each other too well. Still one long lived being to another The Doctor felt sad that his time was coming to an end. The cat nurse accepted the cup and smiling she said,

“That's very kind. There's no need.” She was just doing her job after all. She was probably one of the most dedicated nurses in the hospital, though for a cat her mannerisms were a bit mousy. The Doctor didn’t think she was probably the type to speak up for herself, but she was sweet.  
  


“You're the one working.” Reminded The Doctor. She should stay hydrated while working. Hame blushed in modesty and insisted,   
  


“There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs.” Hame thought that the Face of Boe was a very wise being and she was honored that he would share any part of him with her. She only wished that he were not so weak now. Old age was a sad thing that she wished she could help cure, but like all things eventually everything had to pass on. The Doctor reflected on the age of the Face of Boe, surely a being that old must have made many friends. Some of them had to still be alive.

“Am I the only visitor?” Questioned the Doctor. With a sound of respect and wonder on her voice Hame explained to the Time Lord,  
  


“The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself.” 

The Doctor could not help but relate and see a possible parallel between himself and this story. Who was it who started all of these legends anyway? The Doctor found it quite funny the number of parallels between him and dying Face of Boe. Last of his kind too. Not too long ago The Doctor was longing for his end and would have envied Boe's coming death. The Doctor had longed for the universe to finally take him and let him disappear into the ages like the rest of his kind but then he had found Rose. The universe had give him Rose and now he wanted to be around just a bit longer for her and now their child. That being said perhaps he was not the one that the Face of Boe was looking to tell a secret to as the Story told. Fairly recently he was not so much like Boe. He had at least one other like him now, not the last one left, but he was the last fully Time Lord left.   
  


“What does that mean?” He asked for clarity to see if there were not some detail that she was leaving out in this story about the Face of Boe, but Hame insisted that it was just a story. Regardless The Doctor asked her to tell him any additional information she had about the Face of Boe.   
  


“It's said he'll talk to a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely God”, she finished and then took a small sip of the water The Doctor had offered her. The Doctor was definitely seeing comparable similarities here. He had to be involved in this and he wanted to know what it was that Boe had to say to him. He really didn’t like to rush the ill, but he really wished that Boe would wake up and speak to him. He hated waiting.  
  


“Look at me. From class to brass.” Hollered Cassandra in horror as she looked at her new stolen body’s reflection in a mirror that Chip had stolen for her. At the first glance, she was not pleased, but then she observed ‘herself’ for a second time.

“Although…” Cassandra mused as she unzipped the sweater that she was wearing, so that more of her chest was showing.

“Oh, curves. Oh, baby, Curves oh, it's like living inside a bouncy castle!” Said Cassandra, bouncing on her heels as she observed herself fully in the mirror, especially her new chest. Now that she had stopped looking at her face and observing her new chest, she noticed something odd about the lower half of her.

  
“Hmm, oh…Big curves. That’s not right, I think… Did she put on weight since last we met?” Asked Cassandra of her servant, as if he’d know, as she placed her hands on her stolen body’s abdomen.

  
  
“I believe the human child is with child herself mistress and the scans from earlier would also support that assumption, Mistress.” Cassandra regarded the idea that she was not only in a situation in which the body she had stolen would stretch and change most unpleasantly with time, but also that she had a parasite feeding off her new body’s resources. Much to her irritation this was definitely a second hand body, used with mileage on it. Cassandra had never had children. The idea itself was disgusting to her. She would never sacrifice her figure and body, or convenience for another. Yet Rose seemed to be doing just that. Nice looking bodies were wasted on some people. Not that it was the best body she could have got, still it was human, the chest left something to be desired, maybe she could push up her new assets a bit until she could have them medically enhanced.

“Ugk, imagine, stretch marks!” Scoffed Cassandra as these unpleasant thoughts about Rose reminded her of another unpleasant memory of Rose. Rose had once called her,

“A bitchy trampoline”, ha, well she might have had stretch marks before as a stretched piece of skin, but at least hers were beautiful, unlike what this tart was willing to endure. She bet that this human was probably the type to want to breast feed too. Yet another means of wrecking your body she thought as she pondered all the ill effects this pregnancy could have on her new body.

  
  
“Disgusting!” Scoffed Cassandra, but then she got a view of herself from another angle in slight profile and saw that the stomach did show an interesting curve. From the side was better than a front on view of her body which made her look a bit pudgy. 

“But then again… aren't I just the yummy mummy?” She said as she rubbed slowly down her stomach to her navel. She decided that she shouldn’t get too bent out of shape about it, since there wasn’t a surgery that couldn’t fix any bumps later down the road that she might have trouble with.

“Anyway this is a condition that is easily taken care of in plenty of ways. And I can always fix any damage this parasite is doing to this body.” Noted Cassandra, calculating her options as she stretched her arms behind her head and admired her new Body’s chest again which had probably gotten bigger lately for obvious reasons and was likely to get bigger. She was starting to develop some pride in her new fixer upper.  
  
  
  


  
“The mistress is beautiful.” Cheered Chip as he bounced up and down excited for his mistress’ good luck. Any compliment easily enflamed Cassandra’s ego.  
  


“Absolutement! Oh, but look…” Said Cassandra happily in a French sounding accent, but then looked over to where her former ‘body’ used to be. The equipment that had been keeping flat Cassandra alive was fried.   
  


“Oh, the brain lead expired. My old mistress is gone.” Mourned Chip at the loss. Cassandra was not concerned and merely smirked as she pointed to her new head,   
  


“But safe and sound in here.”   
  


“But what of the Rose child's mind?” Asked Chip with obviously more concern for Rose than his mistress.   
  


“Oh, tucked away. I can just about access the surface memory... She's. Gosh, she's with the Doctor. A man... And this thing in me, It’s his! He's The Doctor. Guess he does get some after all. Not recently though… No matter. But that’s the same Doctor with a new face. That hypocrite!” Growled Cassandra in anger as she made her way to the mirror again. Cassandra, in spite of herself, was amazed with the work he had done. The Doctor looked like he had a whole new body! Cassandra wondered if she could use the same means to get this chavy body looking more like hers used to when she was fully human. Her old looks were infinitely superior to Rose’s any day.

“I must get the name of his surgeon. I could do with a little work.” Cassandra then rubbed at her new behind which, in this case, was yet again a form of violation to Rose’s body,

“Although nice rear bumper. Hmm. Oh!” Said Cassandra pleased, but the last part in some surprise. Something had startled her.

Cassandra had not had a body to speak of in centuries and it was not an exaggeration to say that she was hypersensitive of every going on in Rose’s body. She had vague memories of what it felt like to breathe and feel hair on your head. She sort of had recollections of how your stomach churned and yes even waste moving through your intestines. However, nothing that she had experienced before was anything like she felt at that moment. She had experienced what felt like a flutter in her abdomen area and at first she might have written it off as indigestion, but then it dawned on her what it was that she was feeling. The tiny life inside her host’s womb was moving. Cassandra felt an odd flush of chemicals bombard her borrowed head, flooding her brain, as the desire to nurture tried to wash over her survivor’s instinct. It was only through will and the desire to live above all other things that she was able to fight off any maternal instincts that she might have vicariously felt through Rose’s body. Rose for one would have really liked feeling what Cassandra was fighting off experiencing in her place. This was a precious stolen moment that Cassandra saw as nothing.

“It moved. The thing in there moved.” Noted Cassandra to Chip as she tried to forget about the parasite that she was unwillingly, for the moment, carrying. It was then that Cassandra felt yet another movement only this time not in her stomach but on her rear end. Her rear end was ringing! The phone in Rose's back pocket was ringing.

  
“Oh, it seems to be ringing. Is it meant to ring?” Asked Cassandra of her servant as she looked to see what was going on on her new behind. Cassandra pulled Rose’s phone out of the back pocket of her newly acquired body. She held it up to Chip, not knowing what to do with it. Being very knowledgeable, Chip explained,

  
“A primitive communications device.” Afraid that if she did not answer than suspicions of her body’s absence would raise, Cassandra very carefully answered the call.

  
“Rose dear, where are you?” Asked The Doctor a bit concerned for his obviously lost wife. He had been in the ward for a while now and was actually getting a bit bored waiting for his wife to catch up so that they could make the rounds together with his new friends he had made and then be on their way for a romantic, as he could make it, evening. Hopefully the Face of Boe, if not awake by the time they left for dinner, would be awake when they came back for another visit. Bad timing on his part, ironically, that the Face of Boe was sleeping when he came to visit.

  
“How does she speak?” Whispered Cassandra to Chip in a slight panic at being found out so soon.   
  


“Old Earth Cockney.” Whispered Chip back to his mistress, ever helpful. Cassandra began running through her mind something that Rose would say on the phone. In what felt to her like a thousand minutes, she finally remembered something she had seen in a movie once.  
  


“Er, wotcha.” Said Cassandra in the best cockney accent that she could make while relying heavily on the most stereotypical knowledge she had of that archaic dialect. It almost pained her to let such a primitive dialect cross her lips.

“Where've you been? I’ve been worried about you, Rose. How long does it take to get to Ward 26?” The Doctor asked a little miffed but mostly concerned. He wanted to share all that he had found out and not found out with the competent life form that was also his wife. Cassandra’s confidence started to grow as it was obvious that she had fooled The Doctor and maybe now over doing it, she spoke again.

  
“I'm on my way, governor. I shall proceed up the apples and pears.” Declared Cassandra, hoping that was something that Rose would say. The Doctor grinned at what he thought was Rose joking around on the phone in a silly voice. Rose always knew how to make him laugh. It was good that they were this relaxed together on something as simple as a phone conversation. He decided to lighten up for a bit and convey some really amazing news to Rose that he knew would excite her. And maybe get her moving up here faster.

“You'll never guess. I'm with the Face of Boe. Remember him?” Asked The Doctor still smiling over the phone.

  
“Of course I do. That big old Boat race.” Said Cassandra, faking interest and bluffing all the way. She sort of remembered someone called Boat, but Cassandra never had a mind for remembering people she did not consider as important as she was. Although to be fair she had no problem remembering people who tried to kill her. Whoever he was, if The Doctor liked him then she probably hated him too. The Doctor felt that the conversation was going swimmingly and emboldened by the sound of her voice. He then looked to his left and right. Seeing that he was alone, he leaned in closer to the phone to be a bit naughty with a cliché.

“So…What are you wearing? Kidding, kidding. Don't wanna be caught saying that around nuns. Just get up here. I'd better go. See you in a minute.” Said The Doctor as he hung up the phone before he could hear Rose’s reaction to his comment. He was now sort of regretting the joke as he did not know if they were in the ‘making suggestive jokes’ stage yet like they used to be when they traveled through time and space with Jack. Though those jokes had mostly been about dancing.

  
The Duke of Manhattan was very happy. The evidence could be heard throughout the Ward in the form of his jovial voice. The Doctor confused as to what the Duke had to be happy about, walked over to have a look. There the Duke and his aid were celebrating with what looked like champagne.

  
“Didn't think I was going to make it. It's that man again! He's my good luck charm. Come in. Don't be shy.” Beamed the Duke of Manhattan. He had noticed The Doctor and was more than happy to see him again.   
  


“Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract.” Hissed Clovis to The Doctor, ever the protector of her boss and his reputation. This woman was either really good at her job or needed a holiday. The Doctor briefly wondered if there was some past history between the two beyond professionalism, but dismissed it as not worth looking into, when a greater mystery was afoot. How was this man still alive?

  
“Winch me up. Up! Look at me. No sign of infection.” Smiled the Duke to Clovis and The Doctor as the Duke’s butler offered champagne to The Doctor. The Doctor politely declined and asked in disbelief,

  
“You had Petrifold Regression, right?” The Doctor was sure that there must have been some misdiagnosis for this man to be alive.

  
“That being the operative word. Past tense. Completely cured.” Smirked the Duke. That just wasn’t right, thought The Doctor and voiced it out loud,

  
“But that's impossible.” Declared The Doctor. The conversation had been over heard by one of the other cat nuns and amused by the brown haired man’s confusion the older cat nun nurse, stated to him,

  
“Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science.” She then smiled just as normal as anything, but The Doctor was not buying this answer. He knew that the medical tech did not exist yet to cure that man, but there he was. Cured! He had never been so floored before. He was on top of every medical advancement. He was The Doctor! Very apprehensive, he asked with a hint of suspicion,   
  


“How on Earth did you cure him?” The old cat nun just smirked and jokingly said,   
  


“How on New Earth, you might say.” The Doctor was not amused by the joke and brought his attention to the colorful liquids that the Duke was having pumped into his system. The Doctor inquired as to what these miracle solutions were, but the cat nun simply stated that they were a ‘simple remedy. Simple, his Time Lord toes. A simple remedy is putting witch-hazel on bug bites, or aloe on a sun burn. A solution that treated a genetically altering disease was, by definition, not simple.   
  


“Then tell me what it is.” Asked The Doctor, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Not liking the man’s constant questions she changed the subject and said with a calculating look,  
  


“I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality. I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp.”   
  


“I'm The Doctor.” Said the Doctor plainly with no lack of confidence.  
  


“I think you'll find that we're the doctors here.” Said Casp in a voice, pardon the term when subject was a cat, sounded almost like a hiss. The confrontation was interrupted when the Cat nurse, Jatt, approached the pair and said to the Matron,   
  


“Matron Casp, you're needed in Intensive Care.” Casp excused herself and The Doctor politely nodded and smiled as she left. Good, The Doctor had some science to do.  
  


“This Doctor man is dangerous.” Warned Chip to his mistress.   
  


“Dangerous and clever. I might need a mind like his.” Stated Cassandra who was busy making herself look as seductive as possible. Her surface memories from Rose told her that there was enough sexual tension between Rose and The Doctor that with the right batting of the eyes, she could make The Doctor do anything she wanted. Though she knew that they had not been intimate in the amount of time she had access to, she was confident that even with this body, that she did the best to spruce up with next to nothing; she could seduce The Doctor to do her bidding. Her hair was looking beyond good, the makeup that Chip had stolen for her complimented her canvas that was Rose’s face, and her breasts were as pushed up and showing as they could be. The lipstick was screaming come hither. She was the image of sexy promiscuous seducer. Something else also gave her confidence that she would succeed.

“And this is perfect. I have two hostages now. And only one I'm willing to give up, one way or another, if it comes to it. Even if he finds me out I still can get away. But that road when we get to it. The Sisterhood is up to something. Remember that Old Earth saying, never trust a Nun? Never trust a Nurse. And never trust a cat.” Smirked Cassandra who then went over to Chip and asked for her tiny bottle of Perfume, which she then tucked down her décolletage to hide from view. Cassandra had to admit that she was enjoying herself a bit too much over this. She had not been at the game of seduction for centuries. With purpose Chip and Cassandra then made their way to The Doctor.

Cassandra and Chip were now on Ward 26, and Chip was under instructions to do what he did best, slink around and not be seen. He was to follow her but to make sure that he was not seen. Nodding his head, he hid in a maintenance closet and waited patiently for his mistress to pass him when she came out of the Ward with The Doctor. Cassandra then turned the corner and spotted The Doctor, she felt adrenaline run through her veins and it excited and scared her. She made a last brush of her hair with her hands and then stuck out her chest as far as it would go. The Doctor was going round all the cubicles and he passed one patient who was floating in midair before spotting her. He smiled and Cassandra nervously did the same. She realized that she had no idea as to what was a regular greeting between the two of them and decided to just wing it.   
  


“There you are. Where have you been, Mrs. Smith? Now come and look at this patient.” Said The Doctor with rabid speed as he pulled Cassandra’s stolen body by the arm to look at a red skinned man floating in the air.

“Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced.” Noted The Doctor with undisguised amazement. Cassandra barely had time to look at the patient before the Doctor was pulling her to another bed with a patient as white as the bed gown he wore.

“And this one. Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine. I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this.” Declared The Doctor as he started to pull Cassandra towards the end of the Ward,

“Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?” Questioned The Doctor with great suspicion. Cassandra was glad that The Doctor seemed to be on the same page, now if she could only get him to stop yapping and start moving. The Doctor talked too much for her taste.   
  


“I can't Adam and Eve it.” Declared Cassandra a bit annoyed in a too heavy cockney accent she had improvised. Something was off about Rose, thought The Doctor. Joking around was fine before but she knew that they were in business mode now. Why was she talking so funny still? He thought that was just phone talk before and she was still doing it.  
  


“What's, what's... What’s with the voice?” Asked The Doctor wondering why his wife was talking so funny.   
  


“Oh, I don't know. Just larking about. New Earth, new me.” Said Cassandra with Rose’s lips, trying to deflect his questions and as she began to admire The Doctor. She began to show off her assets some more and The Doctor couldn’t help but let his eyes trail down to her very open blouse and décolletage. Feeling a combination of embarrassment, and shame he looked back up at her eyes. And quickly wiped the smile that seeing Rose’s décolletage had put on him. Rose had not given him permission to ogle her again yet. He was not going to make the primitive assumption that just because Rose was dressing a little differently from what he thought was usual for her, meant that she was asking to be ogled. Wanting to make conversation and distract Rose from what he had unconsciously done The Doctor thought to turn to comedy.   
  


“Well, I can talk. New New Doctor.” Grinned The Doctor to his wife. Cassandra now having had a chance to fully look at this new new Doctor had to admit that he was very easy on the eyes. She had not had real human hormones or pheromones running through her in centuries and she had an itch now that needed scratching. Cassandra was finding herself overcome by these chemically induced feelings that she was out of practice controlling. She looked at The Doctor’s lips, those perfect lips and she felt her stomach clench in a way she had almost forgotten. She wanted to, no needed to give this body a try at kissing him. It would not only scratch her itch, but if she knew men, stop him from asking anymore questions for a while. At least long enough for her to use that mind of his to help her. Hormones were new, she was liking new, and he was rather new after all.  
  


“Mmm, aren't you just.” She purred before roughly grabbing The Doctor by his head and kissing him, long and hard. All the while gyrating her hips against his pelvic bone. The Doctor was shocked and embarrassed at how fast he had become excited. Even though such a thing was ridiculous to be embarrassed about around your own wife. Maybe his anxiety was more from the place and timing too. They were in public! Surround by nuns!

Him as this Doctor and this body it was all new and untested. He had had much better control as his former self. If he and Rose did go there later, would he even be any good? He worried that Rose had felt the evidence of his excitement when she had brushed repeatedly against him. Even though he was starting to be sure that was what she had wanted to feel, he was still a little mortified by his body's response. Who he thought was Rose finally released him from her grip and breathlessly looked at his swollen lips before walking away pointing.   
  


“T..Terminal's this way. Phew.” Stuttered Cassandra breathily and obviously impressed by the kiss, even if The Doctor didn’t feel he had done anything particular at first to deserve it. Perhaps he did not know his own strength he thought as he watched Rose swaying her hips as she walked toward the terminal. 

The Doctor stood there dumbfounded a little drunk from the kiss. Then the happy thought finally clicked in his head. This was good, this was very very good. Rose Tyler Smith had kissed him. Nay, all out snogged him right in the hallway of Ward 26. That had not only been his first kiss in this body, it had also been the first time that Rose had kissed him again since he changed. He was relieved that Rose felt comfortable enough with him again. And it was still fantastic, brilliant, molto bene! It looked like he could still get Rose’s blood to boil for him. And he wasn’t even trying that time. Imagine how wild he could drive her in that respects if he actually put in some effort. Slicking his hair back with one hand The Doctor quite cockily, though a bit higher pitched, as he was still very excited said,

  
“Yep, still got it.” He then followed Rose pretending that he was not staring at Rose’s behind as she swayed her hips a bit more than was necessary, but he sure wasn’t going to complain. Rose was flirting with him again and/or all out seducing him and that was very encouraging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Cassandra you evil body snatching bovine! So what did you think guys? 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	8. Intensive Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra is being sneaky and dangerous.

** Complications **

**Chapter 08 – Intensive Care  
  
**

The Doctor was standing at the computer terminal, by the lift with the woman who appeared to be his wife. He was looking about for any way to find a clue as to what was the great secret behind the miracle cures that the cat nuns used to heal their patients. There was only one thing different. Rose seemed to be very up on what he was doing and very interested in it. Rose was an intelligent woman who could come up with brilliant plans under stress, but as far as futuristic tech, she was content to bow out and let The Doctor handle it. She would usually be close to him, but not as fully immersed or helpful as she was being with a computer billions of years ahead of her time. He had been thinking about tutoring her to run diagnostics on the TARDIS, but she appeared to already be pretty good in that respects. 'Curious', he thought as he continued his search of the Terminal's systems. The Doctor now growing frustrated from his lack of results declared, 

  
“Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry, prenatal... No sign of a shop. They should have a shop. What happens if you want to get a balloon for a baby or your Grandmum last minute?” Cassandra was growing frustrated too. She wanted to get to the bottom of this probably more than The Doctor did. She was also frustrated with his constant breaks to see if he had actually spotted a shop to shop in somewhere in this hospital. What was his mad obsession with this shop that clearly did not exist? Trying to get him, and that sexy looking head of his, back on task, Cassandra looked over the maps on the screen and said,

  
“No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?” The Doctor was amazed by how Rose always seemed to catch things he didn’t that were usually more domestic than he could be bothered to notice. But something just seemed off about their chemistry today and Rose's approach and not just towards him. Though he had not minded her approach earlier and it seemed she had not been idle in her sleuthing while they were separated, but something didn't seem right. Still she was making a good point on where to search and he would say as so.

  
“You're right. Well done.” Complimented The Doctor, quite pleased with Rose’s before mentioned sleuthing.

  
“Why would they hide a whole department? It's got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame.” Recommended Rose. It was then that The Doctor felt that something was very off about Rose. He had never taught her that or maybe he did? He did tend to ramble a lot about everything.  
  


“What if the sub-frame's locked?” Asked The Doctor, testing her knowledge further. 

“Try the installation protocol.” Said ‘Rose’ to The Doctor as if it were obvious. The Doctor was stunned by this. Had more than he thought rubbed off of Rose in her travels with him? Still as amazing as his wife was, she never seemed a techie, and she didn't seem to be acting like herself. He was now very worried that something was the matter. It was probably best just to not worry Rose about it until he had a better idea of what really was the matter with her. He didn't want to let on that he was worried for her too. No sense in stressing her out over mere suspicions just yet and he had to respond to Rose's technological advice.   
  


“Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on.” Said The Doctor not believing that he could possibly be getting tech advice from a human billions of years removed from their own tech. He used the sonic screwdriver on the interface, only to be surprised when the whole wall slid down to reveal a darkened corridor.   
  


“Intensive Care. Certainly looks intensive.” Noted The Doctor as he followed Rose down the dark and filthy corridor. She was being quite bold, she was jeopardy friendly, but she usually let him lead into unfamiliar territory since he was usually more knowledgeable. He thought it might be a bit reckless too, considering that Rose had made a big deal of them traveling to safer planets for the meantime. His anxiety was palpable and he could even sense a bit now from another location. The baby he realized was feeling anxious and he wondered if his worry was feeding off that. Why was the baby upset? Her mind was not developed enough yet to hold a conversation. The best he could get were emotions. Maybe Rose was actually more scared than she was letting on and the baby was picking up on that and hence him. Telepathic parenthood always added a new element of difficulty to actual parenting. Was Rose worried that The Doctor would be bored with them taking fewer risks that Rose was being bolder to show that she had not lost her adventuring spirit? That wasn’t necessary; Traveling with Rose would never be boring. Now that the pheromones that Rose had been dumping on his senses had cut off suddenly. He was sensing a feeling of dread or anguish. Was that from the baby too? No, it was something else and he had a very bad feeling about this corridor.

“Rose, if you are scared…Its fine for you to be. You don’t have to prove anything. I’m happy traveling with you anytime, anywhere, for any reason. I’m not upset with taking precautions for the baby’s sake.” Assured The Doctor as he followed the oddly behaving Rose down the dark corridor. What The Doctor and Cassandra did not realize was that their actions had been noticed by Novice Hame.

  
  


Rose led the way down a good old-fashioned staircase of the ICU with purpose. Purpose that was foreign to The Doctor and Rose’s normal characteristics of looking around and absorbing everything. Cassandra was not approaching this situation as The Doctor was. She knew and expected to find dirt on the cat nuns. The Doctor did not know what to expect from the path they were walking. The scale of the place was amazing. The whole place was lined with cells, thousands of them. These cells reminded The Doctor eerily a bit of the Tomb of the Cybermen that he had discovered many years ago back when he was obsessed with playing an accordion. The Doctor, very curious as to what was inside the cells, took out his sonic screwdriver and opened one at random. Inside, to his horror and pity, was a very sick looking man. He had never seen a person so ill before, there was literally nothing healthy about him. The Doctor was surprised that he wasn’t dead already with such an infection. Cassandra was as equally taken aback with emotion, but not that of compassion or pity. She was revolted by the sight and covered her mouth as if it would help prevent her from catching whatever it was the man had.  
  


“That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?” She asked The Doctor, not having the foggiest idea of what ailed the man and revulsion in her pretty voice. The Doctor did not let his eyes leave that of the man and before closing the door said with the deepest regret,  
  


“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” There was nothing he could do to help the person. All he could do was keep the illness from spreading by closing the man’s cell. Now very curious as to the nature of this facility and hoping that his worst suspicions were incorrect, The Doctor moved on to the next cell, it too contains a sick person, but this time it was a young woman. Cassandra for some reason found the sight of the sick woman more disturbing and questioned what disease it was that the woman had? Grimly The Doctor replied,  
  


“All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything.”   
  


“What about us? Are we safe?” Questioned Cassandra, very worried for herself and clearly forgetting who she was pretending to be.   
  


“The air's sterile. Just don't touch them.” Explained The Doctor as he closed the door on the poor woman inside. The full magnitude of what was going on in this supposed hospital was weighing in on The Doctor so hard he felt that it might crush him. As he looked out among the sea of green cells, each holding a sick being inside, he knew what was the fate of these poor souls and how they had come to be this way.  
  


“How many patients are there?” Asked Cassandra as she maneuvered her stolen body near the rusty guardrails to look at the seemingly never ending structure of cells.   
  


“They're not patients.” Spat The Doctor as he tightened his grip on the guardrail and felt the Oncoming Storm rising to the surface. That made no sense to Cassandra. If they were not patients then way would they be here?   
  


“But they're sick.” She noted, not seeing how the Nuns would not treat someone ill since that was what their vows were based around.   
  


“They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm.” Roared The Doctor, his anger knowing no bounds and Cassandra had to fight the urge to shrink away from him, less she be swallowed up by the sea of his wrath. The Doctor began to walk away from her and she followed.  
  


“Why don't they just die?” Asked Cassandra of the all knowing Doctor, she almost cared, but only so that she could exploit whatever dirt they could find on this place. And there was shaping up to be a lot more dirt than she had ever hoped for. But seriously, If they had every disease then there was no way that they could survive that very long, Cassandra assumed.   
  


“Plague carriers. The last to go.” Declared The Doctor as he looked into another cell through the glass at the suffering and weak being inside. His brooding thoughts were interrupted by the familiar voice of Nurse Hame,  
  


“It's for the greater cause.” She explained in a gentle voice that only turned The Doctor’s stomach. And he had thought that she was such a good person. That she was complicit with this was an abomination.   
  


“Novice Hame, when you took your vows, did you agree to this?” He demanded of the Nun, who simply replied that the Sisterhood had sworn to help.   
  


“What, by killing?” Growled The Doctor. Hame saw this as merely a misunderstanding on The Doctor’s part and that if she could explain to him he would understand.   
  


“But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence.” She said to the two beings in front of her. The Doctor wasn’t buying this, these people were people and they were alive.  
  


“What's the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many!” Thundered The Doctor wanting to know what was the death toll of this genocide of people. Cassandra was eating all of this up. She had more blackmail of the Sisterhood than she could have possibly wanted, thanks to the Doctor. She might even kiss the man later before she ran off with her spoils. Again Hame was upset by The Doctor’s tone but had to explain how they were justified.  
  


“Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh.” Said Hame softly.   
  


“These people are alive.” Hissed The Doctor his mind spun with a million ideas of what to do to right this situation somehow and seek justice…or revenge for the people these supposed Nuns and nurses had wronged.   
  


“But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us.” Smiled Hame, clearly a believer that the ends justify the means. Realizing that he was not getting through to the deluded cat nurse, The Doctor came to the conclusion for her,   
  


“If they live because of this, then life is worthless.” He rumbled. Hame was now upset by The Doctor’s conduct. He was trying to lord over her like a God. The Doctor was just a man, flawed and able to misunderstand. This had to be cultural. The Doctor had to be from some lesser evolved group of beings if he could not see what good the Sisterhood was doing in the name of medicine.   
  


“But who are you to decide that?” she asked of The Doctor. The Doctor would have laughed at the little minded cat, if he were not already so furious. Who was he? He was The Doctor, he was a Time Lord and much as the game warden watched over a preserve, so did he over the universe. He was the ultimate judge of fairness and as a member of the oldest species in the universe, it was his job to protect the innocent from those that would or do prey on them. He was the highest authority.  
  


“I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me.” He roared. The tense mood was then interrupted by Cassandra, who being anything but emotionally invested in the situation of conflicting ideologies over what was a person, questioned the nun,   
  


“Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?” Hame dutifully answered,  
  


“We thought it best not.” This was every red flag available to The Doctor. His wife had clearly shown not only a disinterest up to this point in the suffering of others but an all out complete disregard. Rose would have been roaring right along with him. Not sociopathic. Yet here she was talking about this situation as if they were having a discussion about the weather over tea. What had happened to his wife while he was gone? Or more specifically, what had these cats done to her? If they had done anything to his Rose that was not completely reversible then no God or Goddess that these cats could pray to would save them from him. Had Rose discovered something earlier and they had done this to her, in hopes to silence her somehow? Had the baby been injured somehow and that was what was distressing her? He would have his answers now. He composed himself as scaring the cat nun to the point that she could no longer speak would serve him no purpose. So calmly he continued.   
  


“Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rose?” Demanded The Doctor. Hame answered truthfully that she did not know what The Doctor meant. The man was starting to make her even more nervous than before.  
  


“And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to my wife’s head, I want it reversed. She is pregnant with a telepathic child and any damaged done to her head is as detrimental to our daughter’s mind! So cut the holier than thou act and reverse it now!” Ordered The Doctor, as Cassandra looked a bit nervously on, but Hame insisted that they had done nothing to her.   
  


“I'm perfectly fine.” Assured Cassandra, but The Doctor was not convinced and said the most obvious clue that Rose was not acting like Rose.   
  


“These people are dying, and my Rose would care!” Declared the Doctor. Cassandra now knew that the jig was up and decided that now that she had all the information she need, it was the best time to loss The Doctor.   
  


“Oh, all right, clever clogs.” Said Cassandra as she rolled her eyes. She then stepped closer to The Doctor and grabbed his tie, pulling it out of his blazer.

“Smarty pants. Lady-killer.” She whispered seductively as she tightened his tie a bit. Gripping the tie like it was another part of his body. A lower part. She was so close that she could have kissed him if she wanted. The Doctor looked at his wife, or who he thought was his wife, trying to size up what he was facing.   
  


“What's happened to you?” Asked The Doctor with suspicion on his voice as he assessed what it was he was looking at. Rose was not acting anything like herself. It was as if she were another person wearing a Rose costume. If it wasn’t for the presence of his child’s upset mind, he would have suspected that it was just that. A disguise, but this was indeed Rose's body, but where was Rose's personality?. Cassandra looked The Doctor up and down, keeping her eyes fixed on the lower half of him for a few moments longer than would be polite in mixed company. The Doctor actually felt uncomfortable as Cassandra explained,  
  


“I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out.” She then tugged on his tie so that they pressed up against each other, under different circumstance being handled by Rose in such a matter might have got him excited, but his concern eclipsed anything else. The Doctor being the very model of control as he questioned the entity inhabiting his wife's body,   
  


“Who are you?” Cassandra loving the chance to finally make herself known to her enemy, and getting to drop this whole Rose charade, leaned over The Doctor’s so that she could whisper in a sensual voice into his ear,  
  


“The last human.” The Doctor looked incredulous and wanting to make sure that he was not mistaken, asked,  
  


“Cassandra?” She then very quickly slipped the ‘perfume’ out of her shirt and squirted some into his face,  
  


“Wake up and smell the perfume.” The mist squirted up his nose, and the Time Lord promptly passed out on to the floor his head hitting one of the cells. Novice Hame was horrified and knelt down to help him,   
  


“You've hurt him. I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron.” Explained Hame, which was just what Cassandra wanted,   
  


“You do that, because I want to see her. Now, run along. Sound the alarm!” Shouted Cassandra as she pulled on a power cable that set off the alarms to the facility. Hame began to run to her superiors, this was a very big problem that only they could solve.

 **  
**Cassandra had Chip put The Doctor into a disused cell. As she watched him lay there, she thought that it was a shame to waste such a gorgeous body. If she were honest with herself, she would not have minded going for a ride on that body, since it have been an obviously very long time since she had the parts to do so. She wasn’t against keeping enemies intimately close for a while when they looked that good. If he had not been so quick to discover her secret, she might have been able to convince him to let her have her way with him on one of the many beds in this hospital before she killed him. But The Doctor was The Doctor, he had found her out again, but this time it was him that was going to die.

The Doctor suddenly woke up and found himself inside one of the green cells sitting in a rather disgusting looking chair. He was a Time Lord and most knock out drugs were very quickly metabolized by his superior biology. He looked around some more and now very worried about his predicament, he demanded that he be let out.

“Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only.” Hissed Cassandra on Rose’s lips as she gloated at The Doctor through the locked green exoglass. It pained The Doctor to see his wife, no his whole family, being so utterly used and abused. The baby could sense his distress and he in turn could sense hers and yet again he was unable to offer comfort. Would his baby be alright? Was what Cassandra had done to Rose even reversible? He could not comfort his child when thoughts like these dominated his head. He was furious as he was scared for Rose and the baby.   
  


“You've stolen Rose's body.” He hissed at Cassandra.  
  


“Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. And once you’re dead, Rosie is a widow, revenge on you. Enjoy." Grinned Cassandra.   
  


“Just let my wife go, Cassandra. Your quarrel is with me, not Rose, not my daughter.” Said The Doctor in a voice that was half demanding and half pleading. Cassandra was lapping up his misery despite the slight discomfort that she was feeling from her passenger. If she didn’t detest pain so much, she might be tempted to give her stomach a few punches if it would settle the little parasite down.  
  


“I will. I might even let her remember how you died when I do let her go. Just as soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, then I'll junk her with the waste along with the freak show in here. Sooner the better.” Smirked Cassandra as she pointed to the place inside her where his child grew.

“Now hushaby. It's showtime.” Grinned Cassandra to The, soon to be very dead, Doctor.

  
“Anything we can do to help?” Asked Jatt with apprehension on her voice as she observed the human woman before her. Cassandra did not have time to mess around. She had an execution to watch without interruption and a fortune to make. 

  
“Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money.” Said Cassandra plainly. The was an impossible request to the two cats who, as if nothing was wrong, Casp explained, 

  
“The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept.” Cassandra was not buying what they were selling and in an all confident voice, at her edge on the situation stated, 

  
“The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?” Casp was not intimidated by the human and declined her demand. Jatt also seemed not to be at all concerned with the threats.

  
“I'd really advise you to think about this.” Insisted Cassandra, but again Casp said that she had to decline giving her money. 

“I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed.” Mocked Cassandra. Casp was now done being patient with Cassandra and hissed, 

  
“Who needs arms when we have claws? The old cat then brandished a larger pair of claws that she unsheathed from her fingers. Cassandra was intimidated at the thought of being clawed up and in a slightly nervous voice yelled to her servant Chip,  
  


“Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B.” Chip then proceeded to pull a lever that opened all the doors to the cells on that level. The Doctor having his chance jumped out of the cell and close behind him were a lot of dazed, diseased people staggering out of their cells as well. 

  
“What've you done?” Demanded The Doctor, not seeing the logic in her plan. This was a risky means of escape to say the least.

  
“Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!” Said Cassandra as she tried to make a break for it, but The Doctor ran after her, all the while yelling to any uninfected person who would listen to him, 

  
“Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!” The last he saw of the cats the sick people were advancing on them. The Doctor was racing after Cassandra and he was gaining, but then all of a sudden the cell locks of the green cells that they were running along began to explode and blow off, one after the other. This obviously had frightened Cassandra who was now running quite ridiculously down the catwalk that they were on. On any other occasion The Doctor might have found such an unproductive and comically means of running seen in Rose as funny. But now was no laughing matter with his wife and child essentially being kidnapped/ held hostage and an infection that he probably was going to have to take care of later being on the loose. It was then that they all rounded a corner and were able to get a view of all the hundreds of levels of cells in the facility. All of the locks on these cells had also been blown off and now it was not a small infection, it was a potential pandemic that The Doctor had on his hands. All of the people who probably had known nothing but the inside of their cells all their lives were out and exploring their surroundings in an infected mass. 

“Oh, my God.” Gasped Cassandra as she realized that it wasn’t a small infection on their hands, it was the whole facility pouring out infected test subjects. And they were finding themselves surrounded. How had this happened? Chip was so scared that he practically clung to Cassandra’s side. He very much resembled a terrified toy dog.  
  


“What the hell have you done?” Shouted The Doctor accusingly at Cassandra as more infected people approached them. Cassandra was very frightened and honestly had no idea how things had escalated so quickly and rightly shouted back,

  
“It wasn't me.”   
  


“One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. I belong to it! We've got to go down.” Hissed The Doctor to Cassandra in dire warning as he gestured for them to move lower. Cassandra was petrified as she saw the infected reaching out their arms for them and not knowing what to do replied,  
  


“But there's thousands of them!” She did not see how they were getting out of this and the defeatist in her was arguing the good of running away or where there was to run. The Doctor would like to think that he was calm, but he was anything but. He was terrified. Even his superior biology would not survive this if he was touched and Rose and his child certainly would not. Taking command of the situation as best as he could despite shaking with fear The Doctor pulled Cassandra out of her panicked state by once more pointing to the metal staircase next to them all and shouted,   
  


“Run! Down! Down! Go down!” And they did just that narrowly missing the mass of disease approaching them. The three heard the PA system announce that the building was under quarantine. The Doctor was half relieved and frightened. For although that meant the sickness would not spread outside the hospital, it also meant that they had nowhere else to go. How long could they dodge infection and would the Time Lord be able to find a way to save not just his family and himself but the whole planet? He was really starting to wish that he had the TARDIS somewhere in the building that at least would be a safe place to hide until he could make his next plan. He normally succeeded thinking under duress, but he had never had something like this before as an incentive.   
  


“Keep going! Go down!” Commanded The Doctor as he tried to think of a plan while keeping Rose’s body safe.

They had reached as far down as they could go and wanting a way out Cassandra desperately raced to call a nearby lift. She pounded on the life controls, but The Doctor shouted,  
  


“No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving.” Driven by survival and not wanting to be scared and alone Cassandra yelled to her ‘running mates’ to follow her. She knew the basement area well and hoped that the exit she was thinking of would be clear. However, as she led The Doctor towards her lair they found themselves discovered by the infected. Cassandra and The Doctor had managed to run by the infected pouring into their corridor from another joining one, but Chip got cut off. More infected people came closer and Chip on the other side. There was no way to help him now.  
  


“Don’t let them touch you.” Cried out The Doctor, concerned for the little man who had become separated from them, but Cassandra did not share his concern. She wanted to get out of here alive and saw it no different from leaving an expendable pet behind in a crisis.   
  


“Leave him! He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half life. Come on!” Shouted Cassandra to The Doctor as she pulled his arm to follow her. She didn’t need The Doctor falling behind as she was sure at this point she needed protection and it was obvious that The Doctor would protect her no matter what. At the very least he was worth one meat shield against the infected. She really probably should have thought this plan through a bit more.  
  


“Mistress!” Cried Chip out to Cassandra, pained by separation and fear. The Doctor felt guilt at leaving him behind but he could not let Cassandra disappear with his wife’s body,   
  


“I'm sorry, I can't let her escape.” He shouted passed the zombie like bodies converging on Chip. The Doctor left the sight of the creature racing after Rose’s stolen body. He hoped that the strange creature would be alright, but he had to protect Rose and his child from not just Cassandra but infected people as well. Cassandra wouldn’t ever be as invested at keeping Rose’s body safe as he was.  
  


Cassandra and The Doctor had made it back to her lair and had sealed the door behind them. No infected people would be coming through that way hopefully now. There was another exit that Cassandra knew of which she hoped would provide escape. She ran to the door and opened it only to discover more infected people behind it. Cassandra let out a shriek of alarm and slammed the door as hard as she could on the people, locking them out. She then ran to The Doctor.

“We're trapped! What am I going to do?” Shouted Cassandra to The Doctor in a panic, now that all their exits were blocked by deadly germ carriers. The Doctor had now collected himself. For the moment they were out of danger and now was the time to reassess priorities. Now that Rose’s body was for the moment safe, The Doctor had tolerated Cassandra using it as a puppet wandering about in it for long enough. Cassandra had stolen and tried to make off with everything that he held dearest with exception of the TARDIS. Not only that but he had stolen a moment from him and Rose that he had hoped had finally come earlier. He had been elated that Rose was now ready to move forward with him, but now he knew that it was all a trick. He saw the bit of technology in the corner when they had entered and now he knew how Cassandra had done it. What Cassandra had done, and was doing to Rose, he would equate with rape and now his first kiss with Rose in this new body was tainted. There might have been some embarrassment in there too of how he was tricked by a kiss. He had, to his shame, overlooked everything out of place just for the sake of enjoying that kiss. He was furious and filled with anger, but not the regular shouting anger, the quiet, I’m looking at you like something I’m about to dissect anger. If Cassandra did not agree to leave Rose peacefully then he was more than content to extract her forcefully and painfully if necessary. There were many ways to get Cassandra out without hurting Rose, but that would take time, and he did not have that right now with their current predicament. It would be better if she left voluntarily at this point.

  
“Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet. You're compressing my wife to death.” Hissed The Doctor to his wife’s body snatcher and his child’s abductor.   
  


“But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead! And besides I have a hostage, your bouncing baby whatever, and I do mean bouncing. Things been moving around now for a while and won’t settle down. Makes me glad I never had kids of my own.” Scoffed Cassandra as she dug again into Rose’s surface memories for more information to put The Doctor on edge with. The Doctor was momentarily taken aback by the information that Cassandra had flippantly let out. The baby was moving, his daughter was moving around inside of Rose. Rose had not told him about that happening yet. He dived into the link he had with his child and indeed her mother’s stressed state of mind, her body and his own mind were taking its toll on the child. She was confused and he tried to assure her that things were okay, but they were not. Cassandra had made them miss something wonderful as an expectant couple and his contempt for her raised yet another bar. ‘Little one, I promise, everything will calm down soon. Doctor Daddy promises.’ Were the thoughts that The Doctor was trying to push to his daughter before Cassandra spoke again.

“I think that you’re going to help me get out of this mess if you know what’s good for…your daughter.” Growled Cassandra as she made a punching gesture at her abdomen. Surface memories had revealed the sex of the child to Cassandra and she was betting this approach would put The Doctor back in line with her plans. Cassandra had made a very critical error. She had threatened the family of a being who had already once before lost everything. And she had done it more than once today. He had been distracted before, trying to keep Rose’s body alive and out of harm’s way, but now it was just the two of them in a locked room. He was a lion in a room with a rat. Those were Cassandra’s odds against him. The Oncoming Storm began to seep out of The Doctor and the air almost became thick with the anger wafting off of the Time Lord. He held out his Sonic and pointed it at Cassandra. He had killed before, and to protect his family against any threat, he would kill again. He began devising ways to extract Cassandra from Rose that would only cause harm to the invader of Rose’s mind each idea more painful than the last if she did not abide his warning. He would give her one chance right now but only one.

  
“What happens to you is not my problem. But we do have a problem here. A very big big problem if you think that there is any way you come out on top in this situation. You can float as atoms in the air for all I care after threatening my family. Now let’s make it clear. One thing very clear, you can’t outsmart me. Even if you could run away from me, I will find you. And if you bring any harm to Rose or to my daughter, I will make you regret it in ways you cannot even imagine. There are things far worse than death in this universe and you will live through every moment of it for all eternity. Now, get out. Give her back to me.” Snarled The Doctor with a cold and calculating look not unlike the looks he had given enemies back when he was his leather self. For a moment Cassandra was unnerved by his sudden dramatic change in persona, but then she remembered,

  
“I already outsmarted you once, you asked for it.” Said Cassandra, all confidence. Cassandra then took a deep breath and blew energy out to The Doctor who unwillingly took it in. Realizing what was happening, The Doctor blocked off his mind to Cassandra leaving his body open to use but his large and dangerous part of his mind inaccessible.   
  


“Blimey, my head. Where'd she go?” Said Rose, confused and wondering where she was and where her enemy, who had been in her head, went. The last thing Rose remembered seeing was Cassandra’s skin stretched out on that trampoline behind her. Now it was empty, so where did she go? Thinking was hurting right now. Her head was killing her, but not a normal headache. She felt like she had been squished in the backseat of a car, inside a small suitcase, and was now finally let out to stretch her mind’s preverbal legs. Rose then once more felt what must be the light touch of the mind of her child in her own head. Rose was upset by the worry she felt in her child and Rose offered her baby comfort. This was enough to settle the baby’s mind for the moment. Rose had yet to feel the baby move inside her. She had missed out on it while Cassandra had controlled her head. However, she had much bigger problems at the moment as she looked at her ‘husband’.   
  


“Oh, my. This is different.” Remarked Cassandra in utter surprise as she felt what it was like to be inside The Doctor’s very male body. She was overwhelmed by the sensations of fabric against new body parts, product she would never have put in her hair and on her face, and the sensation of being so tall. Oxygen flowed so easily through her stolen body that it was euphoric.   
  


“Cassandra?” Asked Rose, confused and wanting confirmation that Cassandra was inside her husband. God, she hoped not.  
  


“Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used, and not by you in recent memory. Well you didn’t land yourself a virgin my dear, but damn near close to it.” Hummed Cassandra as she tried out the rumble of her new male voice in her new male throat. She then felt the double beat in her chest where there was supposed to only be one.  
  


“Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!” Sang Cassandra and she thrust The Doctor’s pelvis and chest in time to his hearts beats. That was enough for Rose.

  
“Get out of him.” Ordered Rose, she didn’t want her husband to be violated like she had just been. Cassandra had literally forced herself on him and was feeling him up and down. She had not even gotten to feel him up in that new body yet! An idea that she had been growing more comfortable with, and now that something that rhythms with witch was touching what was not hers.   
  


“Oo, he's slim, and a little bit foxy. You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like the new look. Oh, the dirty thoughts about this rear end alone.” Teased Cassandra. Rose turned her head partly in embarrassment of something so intimate being said about her. She wished that it was The Doctor speaking to her teasingly about intimate things and not Cassandra. But any embarrassment was about to be overshadowed when Cassandra slid down The Doctor’s hips and bum with the Doctor’s hands. Cassandra was wondering if she shouldn’t just run off with The Doctor’s body, it certainly felt like the better deal to Rose’s commoner body. That filled Rose with rage and Rose was ready to shout that ‘no one felt up her husband, but her,’ when the diseased people burst in through the now unlocked door. Dropping her confident attitude immediately and yelped to Rose,   
  


“What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?” Rose could see sickly looking people were limping closer. Rose wasn’t sure what was the issue with these people, but judging from Cassandra’s reaction they did not want to be caught by them. If they were a danger and The Doctor was out of the picture for the moment then that meant that now it was up to her to keep her family safe. Rose looked about and spotted the elevator maintenance ladder toward the back of the room.   
  


“Ladder. We've got to get up.” Shouted Rose as she gestured toward the ladder. Cassandra spotted said ladder.  
  


“Out of the way, blondie!” Shouted Cassandra in The Doctor’s body as she roughly shoved the pregnant woman aside to save herself. Rose nearly fell onto the floor, but seeing that the infected were getting closer she managed to catch herself and run for the ladder too. She got up it in time to avoid the rush of bodies of the infected and thanked God that she was not yet too big to slow herself down too much. She had read that pregnant woman should and could be just as active as if they were not pregnant and, boy, was she testing that to the limit now.  
  


‘Legs don’t fail us now!’ Thought Rose as she high tailed it up the ladder to hopeful safety. She was not going to let Cassandra literally run off with her husband! 

Rose had to hand it to Cassandra that when she was scared, she could really move. If not for the situation and circumstances, she might have enjoyed the view, but just the thought that it was really Cassandra ruined any thoughts like that. She just focused on the task at hand and hoped that those infected people were in no state to climb up a ladder. They were really high up now and Rose had to remind herself not to look down. She was afraid that she might get dizzy if she did and fall off. She did not know what to do and they needed The Doctor if there was any hope for anyone to get out alive.

  
  
“If you get out of The Doctor's body, he can think of something.” Suggested Rose to the panicked Cassandra. Cassandra was in no mood to listen to the chavy woman below her.   
  


“Yap, yap, yap. God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city. If you’re not thinking about the parasite than your mind is on The Doctor.”   
  


“We're going to die if…” Said Rose trying to reason with Cassandra to leave The Doctor’s body, but then Rose felt a tug at her boot. She was tugged so hard that she really had to tighten her grip or she would fall off. For a terrified moment she was afraid that she might have been grabbed by the infected, but she looked down and saw that it was some cat nun grabbing on to her ankle. The Cat nun looked very angry and Rose demanded that she get off of her. Casp did not know that Rose had been used as a puppet by Cassandra earlier, all she saw was the pink and yellow devil woman who had ruined her life’s work and legacy.  
  


“All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything.” Hissed the Cat nun, Casp. Cassandra had no sympathy for the deluded cat and condescended with a speciesist slur,   
  


“Go and play with a ball of string.” Casp continued to rant,  
  


“Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!” Her true feeling about humans coming out now. Just then a diseased arm reached up and grasped Casp's ankle. Apparently the infected could climb and had managed to catch up with the three. As Casp was touched the sickness spread to her and not being able to hold on to the ladder, or Rose's foot, anymore fell screaming to her death. Rose now had a clear idea as to what was the danger presented by these people. They touch you, you break out into disease instantly, and then you die! Well that was not happening to her baby or herself!  
  


“Move!” Shouted Rose, knowing that they would be next if they did not hurry up the ladder. Cassandra shrieked and doubled her efforts up the ladder. Rose and Cassandra reached as far as they could climb and much to their horror found that the elevator door that they were next to was tightly shut closed.  
  


“Now what do we do?” Demanded Cassandra in fear as she saw the infected getting closer up the ladder, whispering ‘help us’. Running away from people in need of help was not what Rose would normally feel compelled to do, but Rose had more than her own life to worry about. She had her family to watch after and if she died by sticking around she would not be able to help anyone.  
  


“Use the sonic screwdriver.” Said Rose as she clung to the ladder. She was glad at least that they did not have to do anymore climbing, she was getting tired.   
  


“You mean this thing?” Cassandra asked as she pulled it out of The Doctor’s pocket as if it were covered in muck.   
  


“Yes, I mean that thing.” Shouted Rose exasperated with Cassandra.   
  


“Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts.” Complained Cassandra to Rose. Rose was at her wits end and sending feelings of love, reassurance and apology to her daughter first, Rose commanded,   
  


“Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!” It seemed like the most reasonable solution and Cassandra was amiable to the idea of not dying.   
  


“Hold on tight.” She warned as she transferred back to Rose. It was an exhausting process and letting out a tired gasp Cassandra, now back inside Rose, groaned,   
  


“Oh, chavtastic again. Open it!” The Doctor saw that his wife was once more being controlled by Cassandra, unfortunately, he had not a clue what was going on yet and whatever the reason he wasn’t going to cooperate until Rose was free.  
  


“Not till you get out of her.” Growled The Doctor as he pointed his Sonic Screwdriver at her.   
  


“We need The Doctor.” Pleaded Cassandra as she saw the infected inching closer.  
  


“I order you to leave her.” Roared The Doctor. Cassandra did the only thing she could do swap back again into the Doctor. Rose almost let go of the ladder as her muscles contracted from the swap, but she managed to hold on.   
  


“No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout.” Scolded Cassandra, now back in The Doctor’s body. Rose was fed up with Cassandra. They needed that door opened, now!   
  


“Cassandra, get out of him!” Shouted Rose, she thought that she had already told her to get out of The Doctor. This head jumping was confusing.  
  


“But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude.” Whined Cassandra. Her efforts to find a happy medium in this situation were not working. For once Rose was telling her to jump into her body, but The Doctor was telling her to get the hell out of Rose’s body. They were at an impasse.   
  


“I don't care. Just do something.” Roared Rose completely out of patience. Cassandra looked at the only possible option left, which was jumping into the mind of one of those infected patients below. She hoped there would be no ill effects to the disgusting thing she was about to do for her survival’s sake.   
  


“Oh, I am so going to regret this.” She whined as Cassandra left The Doctor’s body and transferred to the lead sick woman on the ladder below them. The second that Cassandra was aware of herself in her new stolen body, she screeched,   
  


“Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting.” Free of Cassandra, The Doctor quickly opened the lift door up and climbed in through it.  
  


“Nice to have you back, love.” Said The Doctor as he helped Rose into the door. The Doctor hoisted Rose up. With one hand he started to close the door with his sonic and in the other one tried to pull Rose into his arm when Cassandra growled,  
  


“No, you don't,” and shot her energy essence back into Rose before the lift doors close again. The force of the energy threw The Doctor and Rose back against the wall but fortunately The Doctor provided Rose with cushioning as they hit the floor. The Doctor sent a comforting wave to his distressed child and filled with anger at Cassandra climbed to his feet and shouted at Cassandra on the floor,

**“** That was your last warning, Cassandra!” The Doctor expected her to be intimidated, but instead Cassandra was staring into space looking quite shocked and actually moved to sadness.   
  


“Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched.” Said Cassandra in stunned amazement of what these people were feeling and the horror of never being touched, loved, or even able to interact with others. Cassandra had many enemies, loved no one living but herself, and obviously rarely had company anymore, but even she had felt the love of a parent as a child. Even she at one point had had friends and lovers. She had had contact with others. These people never had and likely because of their condition, never would. It was tragic.

The Doctor was moved by Cassandra’s realization, and just her being able to acknowledge this was amazing to him. That she could find it in her stolen heart to have empathy, to feel pity, to be sad for someone other than herself was astonishing. It even allowed The Doctor to feel obligated to reassure his enemy and offer a comforting hand, which he did. The Doctor put out his hand and Cassandra gratefully took it. The Doctor then helped her up. Banging could be heard on the lift door and they were on their way. Things could wait to be sorted out when they were no longer in danger.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Run for it, Doctor and Rose! Some form of zombies are after you…again. Just like old times. Man, the Doctor and Rose are going to have a lot to discuss after this. What doth you think, dear Readers? 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	9. The Cure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor saves the day and finally starts opening up to Rose

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens  
  
 **Chapter 09 – The Cure**

The Doctor used his Sonic to open the locked service door a little ways in front of them and they were now back in Ward 26. The Doctor could see the still sleeping form of the Face of Boe and the cat nurse that The Doctor held in the greatest contempt now, Hame. The sterile white walls and bright lights were a welcome change to the pair, but The Doctor and his companion did not enjoy it for long before they found themselves being charged at by a very angry Clovis brandishing a metal stand as a weapon. Obviously she was afraid that they were more of the infected, so The Doctor shouted,

“We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look.” The Doctor and Cassandra then proceeded to wave their arms and hands in the air in surrender. The woman was not convinced that they were harmless and Clovis barked back,  
  


“Show me your skin.” The Doctor and Cassandra did just that.  
  


“Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead. So how's it going up here? What's the status?” Declared The Doctor, wanting some calmness to return so he could assess the situation. Clovis put down the stand and straightening her suit announced,   
  


“There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad.” This was a bad idea and would be a disaster for the health and safety of all the people of New New York. The Doctor insisted that Clovis could not do that because a forced entry would break the quarantine.   
  


“I am not dying in here.” Hissed Clovis to The Doctor.   
  


“We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There’s ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!” Ordered The Doctor but Clovis was not listening.   
  


“All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Rose, novice Hame, everyone!” Harped The Doctor as he ran past the Duke of Manhattan,

“Excuse me, your Grace.” He chirped to the Duke and continued,

“Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!” Ordered the Doctor as he ran about the room grabbing drip bags of miracle cures. The Doctor refused to acknowledge Cassandra in front of other people, he did not want Rose’s body to be blamed for this nor did he want her mistaken for Cassandra. Cassandra did not seem to mind if The Doctor could save her and ran to aid him. Everyone grabs more drip bags while The Doctor soniced loose a device used to lower the Duke’s bed up and down. He would need this for his plan. He then collected a long piece of heavy silk rope and started hanging the drip bags on the rope around his body as they were handed to him. Cassandra fastened the last one on him and The Doctor questioned,   
  


“How's that? Will that do?” Cassandra looked perplexed and said that she didn’t know. She didn’t even know what he was talking about. Not even pausing to answer The Doctor raced for one of the closed lift doors and soniced it open.  
  


“The lifts aren't working.” Shouted Cassandra, not understanding how The Doctor could forget that if he was trying to make an escape. Undaunted The Doctor ran back against the wall opposite the lift and declared,   
  


“Not moving. Different thing. Here we go.” He then placed the sonic screwdriver between his teeth and ran toward open door of the lift.   
  


“But you're not going to…” Questioned Cassandra, but before she could finish her questioning statement The Doctor had already leaped into the elevator shaft and grabbed on to the lift cable in the middle.   
  


“What do you think you're doing?” Shouted Cassandra, convinced that the Doctor had gone barking mad. He was just hanging there by the metal rope and one slip of the hand and he'd fall to his death!   
  


“I'm going down! Come on!” Mumbled The Doctor with the Sonic in his mouth. He then attached the round piece of equipment he had swiped off the Duke’s bed to the cable.   
  


“Not in a million years.” Declared Cassandra as she crossed her arms indignantly. She wasn’t going to risk her new stolen body jumping to her death. The Doctor was not put off and using his famous charm and an eyebrow waggle he rasped,  
  


“I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?” Cassandra was now turned on, but still not convinced. What did convince her was Clovis locking the ward door behind her and the infected approaching. Out of options Cassandra ran for the lift and jump on The Doctor’s back. She then tightly wrapped her legs around his torso in a death grip. She was not letting go for anything. Now that she had jumped onto The Doctor's back, boy did The Doctor wish that it was Rose and not Cassandra on his back right now, but he had a job to do.   
  


“You're completely mad. I can see why she loves you.” Snarked Cassandra as The Doctor made the last adjustments to the device.   
  


“Going down!” Announced The Doctor and the improvised wheel he had attached to the cable took them down the shaft, screaming all the way. Once they were close to the bottom The Doctor put on the brakes and they came to a gentle stop on top of the lift.   
  


“Well, that's one way to lose weight.” Said Cassandra as she got off The Doctor and straightened the shirt she was wearing. The Doctor, not wasting a second, pointed to a lever in the roof of the lift and ordered,  
  


“Now, listen. When I say so, take hold of that lever.” Cassandra tried to protest by reminding him that there was still a quarantine going on, but The Doctor silenced her by demanding,  
  


“Hold that lever! I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself.” The Doctor was not just a title and he was not planning on doing anything that would risk his family. The Doctor bit down on one of the plastic-like drip bags that held the miracle medicine. He then ripped open a hole in the bag with his teeth and poured the contents into the lift's disinfectant tank. The Doctor did this several times until all of the colorful liquids had been mixed together. He had also tossed every bag over his shoulder causing them to land on Cassandra, lightly, but annoyingly in a manner that she was almost certain was intentional. It wasn’t like she could step aside, not after The Doctor had frightened her into not moving an inch away from the lever.   
  


“Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got.” Ordered The Doctor as he lifted a hatch on the lift’s roof. And started to climb down inside of it. Cassandra looked on in confusion and asked incredulously,  
  


“What about you?”   
  


“I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in.” Smirked the Time Lord as he dropped down. Once inside he opened the doors with his sonic screwdriver on to the lobby and there the diseased people were. Hearing the doors opened the sad, scared and desperately lonely beings turned to look and spotting The Doctor reach their arms out to him and approached in droves.   
  


“I'm in here! Come on!” Beckoned The Doctor as loud as he could alarming Cassandra and convincing her that he had gone mad.

“Don't tell them.” She hissed, Cassandra still needed The Doctor to get her out of this mess.

“Pull that lever!” Shouted The Doctor as all the diseased people in the lobby closed in on him. If Cassandra was not so afraid of the situation and being alone among these all but zombie people she might have had the mind to let his call go unanswered, but obediently she pulled.   
  


“Come and get me. Come on! I'm in here! Come on!” Called out the Time Lord as the first stage of disinfection began.   
  


“Hurry up! Come on!” Cheered The Doctor as he bounced up and down trying to make himself as enticing a target as possible for their attentions. The contents of the disinfectant tank began to pour onto the Doctor as the first of the infected people joined him under the spray. Cassandra tried her best to see what was going on below her but her angle while holding the lever was too far away from the hatch to see the Doctor, all she saw was water falling. She did not hear him screaming bloody murder over the spray of water so she had to assume that he was alive and not in any danger. What she did not realize was that The Doctor was curing all the infected. He had in his cleverness devised a skin to skin cure of the infected’s ailments and now they were spreading the cure among their ranks.  
  


“All they want to do is pass it on. Pass it on!” Shouted The Doctor as she watched the compassionate creatures holding each other to help cure their brethren of the thousands of ailments that plagued them their whole short lives.

“Pass on what? Pass on what?” Questioned Cassandra in a shout, as The Doctor’s words were completely out of context to her, but he could have sworn that she had seen white robes of the infected from the slight corner of the inside of the lift that was visible from her angle. The Doctor was too excited and overjoyed for the quickly becoming uninfected people to hear Cassandra. The Doctor watched all of the signs of illness appear to melt away from his ‘patients’. Now satisfied that it was safe to bring Rose’s body down from its safe hiding place, The Doctor help Cassandra carefully down from the lift. Cassandra now knew that The Doctor had done something to neutralized the infected but had not yet seen what the Doctor had done to them. She assumed that he did what was the most logical.

“What did they pass on? Did you kill them? All of them?” She questioned as she looked nervously from the inside of the lift for signs of bodies on the floor ahead. The Doctor was so proud of his accomplishment that even such a callous remark could not shake his happy mood. He strode out of the lift proudly and he simply declared,  
  


“No. That's your way of doing things. I'm The Doctor, and I cured them!” Cassandra saw many perfectly healthy looking people walking about hugging and she had to admit that she felt somewhat moved by the scene in front of her. Not only that but The Doctor was also participating and hugged a shy but obviously very loving woman. The Doctor with all the tender affection of a parent hugging their own child said,

  
“That's right. Hey, there we go, sweetheart.” The Doctor then gestured to another one of her lab mates that looked like he could use a hug and encouraged,

“Go to him. Go on, that's it. That's it.” The woman went off on her way and The Doctor jubilantly continued to survey the people he cured.

“It's a new sub-species, Cassandra. A brand new form of life. New humans! Look at them. Look! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive. You can't deny them, because you helped create them. The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!” Cheered The Doctor to Cassandra.

The Doctor had moved back up to Ward 26 to see if his friends had fared well now that the quarantine had been lifted. The Doctor was still wet and the watery squeaking of his trainers could be heard echoing the halls when NNYPD were not on the loudspeaker booming instructions to the patients and staff of the hospital.   
  
  


“All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat, immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care. All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD.” The Doctor heard as he watched a very cowed Novice Hame being escorted away by the police. The Doctor held no pity for her, but her face reminded him of why he was here in the first place.   
  


“The Face of Boe!” shouted The Doctor as he raced to the tank that held his friend. The Face of Boe was now awake and looking around.   
  


“You were supposed to be dying.” Smirked The Doctor, happy that his friend appeared to be on the mend. The Doctor and Cassandra then heard and ancient but comforting voice not with their ears but in their minds,  
  


“There are better things to do today. Dying can wait.” Cassandra did not find the experience very comforting and condescended to say,  
  


“Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face.” The Face of Boe did not seem to be offended, but The Doctor was. It had been ages since he had a fully developed telepathic mind in his head to communicate with. He could have held the whole conversation in his mind with the Face of Boe, but it was rude to speak in a form of communication that one other person in the room could not understand.   
  


“Shh!” Said The Doctor to Cassandra, he was not in the mood to deal with her cheek. He wanted very much to know what if anything that Boe had to disclose to him.   
  


“I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew.” Explained Boe to his ancient friend.   
  


“There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old.” Smiled The Doctor with a very interested look. The Face of Boe acted as if such information was new to him and declared it impossible.   
  


“Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me.” Said The Doctor as he stooped down low to be at eye level with the Face of Boe. He got as close as he could to Boe as if the information was too secret to say in anything but hushed tones.   
  


“A great secret.” ‘Whispered’ Boe in confirmation.   
  


“So the legend says.” Stated The Doctor, very keen to hear.   
  


“It can wait.” Said the Face of Boe in a ‘voice’ almost teasing. The Doctor looked very disappointed and in a voice not unlike that of a disappointed child asked,   
  


“Oh, does it have to?”   
  


“We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day…” Explained Boe before beaming, tank and all, away from the room to who knows where. The Doctor had yet another mystery to ponder and declared before turning to Cassandra,  
  


“That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic. And now for you.” Cassandra was trying to look as unassuming as possible, most likely hoping against hope that The Doctor would simply forget that his wife was being possessed by an invading mind.   
  


“But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?” She said in a begging but soothing voice. The Doctor was not swayed especially with his whole family at stake and said,   
  


“You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra.” Cassandra knew that this was it for her and started bursting into tears that, if it had been Rose and not Cassandra, The Doctor would have felt obligated to wipe away from her face. Cassandra was afraid to die. She had no idea what happened after death, if anything at all, and unknown things scared her. She wanted to carry on living.  
  


“I don't want to die.” She sobbed, to which The Doctor replied that no one does.  
  


“Help me.” Begged Cassandra but there was nothing that The Doctor could do for her and said he could not. It was then that the voice of Chip was heard across the ward calling for his Mistress.   
  


“Oh, you're alive.” Declared Cassandra, surprisingly happily even to herself.   
  


“I kept myself safe for you, mistress.” Stated Chip seriously. All the gears in Cassandra’s stolen head were turning and she realized that she had an alternative to death! And one that The Doctor could not object to, much at least.   
  


“A body. And not just that, a volunteer.” The Doctor realized what Cassandra was thinking and shouted,   
  


“Don't you dare. He's got a life of his own.” Chip however protested that,   
  


“But I worship the mistress. I welcome her.” The Doctor was not convinces and insisted that Cassandra could not, but with a wink of Rose's stolen eye the energy transfer to Chip had already taken place. The Doctor had just enough time to somewhat roughly catch his wife in his arms before she could fall to the ground on her stomach.   
  


“Oh! You all right? Whoa! Okay?” Asked The Doctor as he had to catch Rose again because she was so unsteady on her feet. Not being able to help himself and acting on instinct to comfort, The Doctor, as Rose rested her head on his collar bone, kissed the side of her face.   
  


“Yeah. Hello!” Smiled Rose both at being happy to see her husband and from receiving the tender sign of affection from the Time Lord.  
  
“Hello. Welcome back.” Beamed The Doctor right back to his bride, but the moment as usual was interrupted by an outside force. CassanChip had come up to the two and said quite loud as they looked over their hands,

  
“Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle.” The Doctor was irritated by the intrusion and Cassandra’s continual taking of bodies that were not hers, so he barked,

  
“You can't stay in there. I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done.” Cassandra reflected on this option and stated,   
  


“Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so…” She stopped and considered what was going on and she stated observantly,

“He's failing. I don't think he's going to last…” CassanChip then fell to her knees but was caught by both The Doctor and Rose.

  
“Are you all right?” Asked The Doctor with concern.   
  


“I'm fine. I'm dying, but that's fine.” Said Cassandra in a calm voice. It did not seem as scary as it would be to die especially not when she was not going alone. Chip would be there and the two would pass on together.   
  


“I can take you to the city.” Said The Doctor in a comforting voice.   
  


“No, you won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die, and that's good.” Said Cassandra in a voice that continued to be complacent with dying.   
  


“Come on. There's one last thing I can do for you.” Explained The Doctor as he and Rose led CassanChip to the TARDIS.

“Where would you like to die, Cassandra? I can take you to any time or place that you would like.” Said The Doctor solemnly to the dying person as they walked through the TARDIS doors. Rose watched The Doctor and was amazed that he had so much compassion even for an enemy. He had changed quite a bit from his leather self, or maybe he had not changed at all. He had after all given Blon mercy. She smiled at The Doctor and he smiled back as Cassandra said in a somewhat whispering voice,

“I should like to go back to before all of this started. When I was younger and happy.” CassanChip was cold and Rose noticed that she was shivering. Out of nowhere a cloak appeared on the jumpseat, when she was not looking it seemed. Smiling to the TARDIS, Rose put a cloak over CassanChip and sat her down.

“CassanChip saw her reflection in some bits of the TARDIS and realization coming to her she stated,

“I think I know the place.” She told The Doctor the coordinates and settled down as she watched The Doctor do his dance of time around the console.

Rose on the other hand was not cold at all. All of the running around that her body had done had made her a bit tired and overheated. She mused that she would have loved to get her hair off her neck and just has the cloak had come out of nowhere, so did a hair tie. Rose mentally thanked the TARDIS and tied up her hair.

The TARDIS materialized out of sight of a party inside a very fancy looking restaurant. Cassandra, before all of her surgeries, was playfully flirting and conversing with many other party goers. CassanChip walked outside the TARDIS along with Rose and saw herself young and happy.

  
“Thank you.” She said to The Doctor and Rose. The Doctor slipped his hand into Rose’s and said to CassanChip,   
  


“Just go. And don't look back.” To which Rose added,   
  


“Good luck.”   
  


“And if you actually see them, you're shocked. But don't quote me on that. Oh, naughty. À bientôt!” Said Cassandra as she was flirting with a man who was leaving the party. CassanChip sheepishly walked up to her younger self and said,

  
“Excuse me, Lady Cassandra.” Assuming that CassanChip was a servant Cassandra dismissingly but politely answered,  
  


“I'm sorry, I don't need anything right now. I'm fine, thank you.” CassanChip needed to say what they had to say and seeing that she had been mistaken for the staff declared,   
  


“No, I just wanted to say you look beautiful.” Cassandra appreciated the compliment, but from such an odd looking chap it was not needed. She really hoped that she was not being flirted with by such a person. Still it was nice and she in the most polite manner she could afford to a nonhuman said,  
  


“Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing. Thank you very much.”   
  


“I mean it. You look so beautiful.” Reaffirmed Cassanchip. Cassandra now could sense this person’s sincerity and that they were not simply flirting but telling her what they felt was the honest truth. Touched Cassandra replied with a heartfelt, thank you, before CassanChip collapsed to the ground. Lady Cassandra cradled the being she did not know and demanded someone get help.  
  


“Oh, my Lord. Are you all right? What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help! Call a medic or something, quickly!”   
  


“Who is he?” Questioned a nearby woman, but growing more distressed Cassandra stated as she rocked the poor creature,   
  


“I don't know. He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying. Someone do something! I've got you, sweetheart. It's all right. There you are. There you are, I've got you. It'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing.” Rose and The Doctor then left.

The Doctor placed the TARDIS into the vortex and led Rose to the sofa in the library. Both sat down and The Doctor ran his Sonic over Rose to make sure that both baby and Mother were doing fine. Once the Sonic had given the all clear, The Doctor placed his Sonic on the coffee table in front of the sofa, which already had two steaming cups of tea and some biscuits on it. The Doctor mentally thanked the TARDIS and took Rose’s hand in his. Rubbing the top of her hand lovingly with his thumb she said,

“I’m sorry Rose, but when Cassandra had control of you…She kissed me and I was so taken aback by the hope that you were finally ready to be intimate with me again, that I didn’t realize that I was being tricked. I wanted you to kiss me so badly again, and that kiss was unknowingly forced on both of us.” Rose considered her memories from the day and they were scattered at best.

“I don’t remember it, Doctor.” Said Rose in a disappointed voice. The Doctor looked at Rose sadly, but then Rose smiled at him,

“But I wish that I did. If only so I could remember, when I kiss you, what the inferior way to kiss you is.” Rose then gave him her famous toothy tongue grin and The Doctor let out a breath of relief. She was not too upset.

“You do? I mean you would like to kiss me? Because I thought, that because I didn’t look like how my last self looked… like John, that you wouldn’t want to… That it was still just too different… I thought it would be a bit longer still until we got to that point.” Rambled The Doctor nervously but hopeful.

“And I thought that since you changed you might not want to… the same as we… that we’d be close but not like we used to… but you can if you want to…kiss me that is. You’re still you, right? You love me as much as you did then, yeah? Nothing has changed except what’s superficial, yeah?” Said Rose shyly. The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.

“Well Rose, if the last me and I as I am now were two people, I would say that we both love you but we are not two people. I’m one person and I love you. I guess we still both are feeling our way around with this. But if you don’t mind me kissing you, I don’t mind you kissing me.” Said The Doctor in a manner that almost reminded Rose of a nervous schoolboy. That an ancient being like The Doctor could be that way. Some things she guessed were timeless in love. Rose realized that she did want to kiss this man in front of her, this man who although he looked and acted differently was in every way her husband. Taking a deep breath and wetting her slightly dry lips with her tongue, Rose leaned in and kissed the Doctor’s lips.   
It was different, but not good different or bad, just different. 

The pressure on his lips was light but as The Doctor realized what was happening, he sighed out his relief and increased the pressure. No contest kissing the real Rose was better than with Cassandra as pilot any day. It wasn’t too long until the kiss progressed to an all out snog. A few minutes more and Rose had to let go and take in air. The Doctor reluctantly let go of Rose only lingering his hand on her hip before sinking back into the sofa with his hands cradling the back of his head, quite happy. She looked at The Doctor whose eyes were slightly hooded and looking completely punch drunk on love. Rose giggled and decided that she liked that look on The Doctor before reaching over for her tea which was now cool enough to drink. She wasn’t ready yet to go all the way with her Doctor just yet, but hopefully soon she would be.  
  
“Doctor, I have something special to show you.” Said Rose now having caught her breath more. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, then waggled both, and replied in a suggestive voice,

“Really, what might that be, hmm?” Rose blushed and then chucked a cushion at him playfully.

“Don’t lose any time flirting, do you?” Laughed Rose, as she got up and extended a hand to The Doctor.

“Well now that I know that I’m allowed to again.” Joked The Doctor as he took Rose’s hand and got up.

“Yeah about that. Sorry for my part of any mixed signals, but I don’t want there to be any secrets or misunderstandings between us from now on.” Declared Rose as she led him out of the library.

“And on my part too, but what special thing could there possibly be on my own TARDIS that I have not already seen?” Asked The Doctor in genuine interest. Rose said nothing but led him down one of the many corridors of the TARDIS to a room that The Doctor had not seen before and this fascinated him. Rose turned the knob on the inviting wooden looking door and entered. The Doctor followed and gasped in astonishment. Rose had indeed brought him to see something he had not seen on the TARDIS before. He was now standing in what appeared to be the nursery of a room not unlike on might find on his home world of Gallifrey! Even the lighting was like it would have been on his planet. The only thing that betrayed the illusion was the various Earth bits of furniture and toys here and there, the Earth’s solar system mobile over the blue bassinet, and a clearly Earth rocking chair. The Doctor did not know what to say. He was a mix of emotions happy, sad and bordering on devastation. He knew that Rose could not have had anything to do with the design choice. He had told her next to nothing about his heritage, so it had to be the TARDIS doing this. On one hand he understood the TARDIS’ choice of wanting to include both the baby’s planet heritages in the nursery, but on the other hand, a warning to soften the blow would have been nice. Trying to mask any mixed emotions The Doctor smiled at Rose and let himself get caught up in memories. There was even a balcony with a view of the Gallifreyan hillside which he knew was all just the workings of the TARDIS, but was almost enough to trick him. He knew the TARDIS wanted him to enjoy this, she could not take him to Gallifrey anymore but she could provide the best substitution.

“Isn’t this great? The TARDIS made it for the baby. The balcony is new though. Oh Doctor, it’s a lovely view, but funny the grass is red. Do you think she got a circuit loose or something and messed up green?” Asked Rose as she looked out onto what she did not know was an imitation of The Doctor’s home world. The Doctor felt a ping of guilt for not having told Rose anything about himself or his planet beyond that there was a war. And Rose, naturally to save him the pain, had not asked. He now knew what the TARDIS was getting at. She wanted him to open up and share more with Rose. Talking about things sometimes helped and the TARDIS was obviously set on being his therapist. The Doctor played with the mobile of the bassinet for a moment and then walked up to Rose joining her on the balcony. The Doctor took in the crisp breeze of the Gallifreyan hillside and felt himself lost in memories. It was so close to the real thing, he could almost not tell the difference. Swallowing his grief as best he could The Doctor placed his arm around Rose and explained,

“No, that’s right. On my planet the grass was red, the sky was orange like you see now. This view is not unlike one you might have had if we were on Gallifrey.” Rose took in a gasp. She was not a fool and knew that this was obviously painful for him and hoping to get a handle on damage control she declared,

“I’m sorry, Doctor. We don’t have to come in here ever again if you want. I didn’t know, I just thought it was a pretty nursery the TARDIS made and I just wanted to show you!” Rose, horrified, was making quickly for the door, but The Doctor stopped her and pulling her into a hug, gruffed,

“No Rose, don’t feel sorry. This is a wonderful place for the baby. I was just not expecting this. I’m not going to let…my past…the baby is part Gallifreyan and its wonderful that she will still be able to experience it in some way. I want to share that not just with the baby but with you too. Except for maybe some of the formal wear… Anyway, as long as I have the two of you, I can get through this.” Rose looked The Doctor in the eyes and saw the hurt in them, not unlike when they were blue, but there was also hope in them that things could get better. If only a little. 

The day was quickly catching up on Rose and she found herself yawning and looking over to that four poster bed in the corner of the room. The villa like atmosphere if not for the subtext she was reading off The Doctor would be enough to put her to sleep standing. Rose looked at The Doctor and gestured to the inviting bed.

“Do you want to stay in here?” Rose asked him for confirmation that it was okay for her to sleep in here since she was finding herself very drained. The Doctor nodded and let out a more relaxed sigh, he could do this for his family. It would be painful and he was already planning a distraction for as soon as Rose’s sleep cycle was over, but he would do it. He could spend a human sleep cycle in this room.  


“Well since the TARDIS has already laid out pajamas, I guess it would be rude not to take a kip.” He answered. Rose turned her head and saw that indeed her nightly affects were on the bed along with elegant sink-like basin to wash off the more make-up then usual on her face.

“Would be rude.” Smiled Rose. It wasn’t long after that until Rose was peacefully but protectively sleeping next The Doctor in the four poster bed. The Doctor couldn’t help but feel that Rose subconsciously wanted to protect him from his own demons that threatened to gobble him up from being in the room. Maybe one day he would tell Rose the full reason why his planet’s death plagued him. She did seem to be relaxed otherwise. The bed was unusually comfortable, the room was not stifling at all and Rose he could tell was enjoying the sounds of nocturnal Gallifrey like it was a lullaby. He however was not enjoying it as much.

The Time Lord held on to Rose like she was his reality anchor that could shield him from any harm real or imaginary. The TARDIS had made it evening in the room now and he could hear and feel the breeze of Gallifrey like a ghost through the open window. He heard the night creatures of his planet, now all dead and gone, and Rassilion did he feel that he was the one that should be gone and not them. He worried that his emotions would swallow him whole, but that was when he felt it. His daughter’s mind was reaching out and comforting him. He gasped maybe a bit too loud because Rose began to stir, but then snuggled back into place, her hand unconsciously rubbing her belly in her sleep. The Doctor realized that his child was sending out all the waves of comfort, love and understanding that she was capable of. At this stage she could not understand what was wrong, but she could feel what was wrong with her father. Mentally he thanked his child and was eternally grateful for her mind in his head that was pushing back all the demons and letting him just be. That was when he stopped seeing, at least for the moment, all that was wrong and bad and began focusing on all that was right and good with where he was. His daughter let him enjoy the current moment and the thought of teaching his child about her heritage. He was allowed to enjoy the sound of creatures and the feel of the breeze on his skin through the open balcony. He was allowed to inhale deeply the smells of Gallifrey. He was allowed to pretend that he was on his own family property on Gallifrey, sharing a new life with his wife, Rose in their home, expecting their first child. He was allowed this night to do that. His mind felt at peace. He pulled Rose closer to him and as he slipped into a restful sleep, he dreamt of taking Rose among the hills in the morning, showing her his planet and making love among the red grass. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: YAY! The Doctor and Rose are snogging again! Tell me what ya think, gang.   
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	10. Tooth and Claw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria.

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens

** Chapter 10 –Tooth and Claw **

The Doctor awoke from his slumber to the feeling of Rose’s golden hair on one side of his face and the imitation Gallifreyan morning light on the other half of his face. For only a split second was he fooled that he was back on his home planet with Rose and it was a wonderful second. But that feeling was over all too soon and The Doctor needed a distraction for his large mind while Rose still slept. He carefully slipped out of bed and pulled the covers over Rose. 

‘If only things could be this perfect.’ Mourned The Doctor to himself before slipping out of the room. He didn’t know if it was a relief or painful to be greeted with the distinct corridors of the TARDIS, a part of him half expect or rather desired to see the common room, more like grand hall of his family estate on Gallifrey. Straightening up he made his way to the kitchen to fix something to eat for himself and Rose. Rose would be awake soon and she would need food to eat or something to settle her stomach if she felt sick. The TARDIS, not too long later, informed him that Rose was being sick again, so The Doctor gave up any ideas for a complicated breakfast and settled on toast and bananas with some ginger tea.

Rose woke up in the nursery’s four-poster bed and felt the ‘sun’ on her skin. She stretched; feeling completely relaxed and reached an arm out for The Doctor only to find that he was not there. Her disappointment did not last long as she found herself feeling sick and ran for the nearest door which she knew that the TARDIS would put a bathroom behind, unsurprisingly it was her usual bathroom. Among the feeling of oncoming vomiting she thought a thanks to the TARDIS since she wouldn't have to waste precious seconds scanning an unfamiliar bathroom for the toilet. Rose reached her goal and lost whatever was left in her stomach from the night before in before mentioned familiar toilet. After taking care of that she then started her morning routine.

“You know Mummy is going to remind you how much I threw up all for your sake when you’re old enough.” Rose half seriously said to her unborn child as she brushed her teeth to get the last of the sick from her mouth before showering. Done with her shower, Rose wrapped herself in her bathrobe and then headed out to find The Doctor.

Rose walked into the kitchen and spotted The Doctor at the small table in the corner. He was impeccably dressed as ever and his hair was so delightfully held up with the right amount of product that she had to resist the urge to just start putting her hands through it. Later she would but for now she had to attend to the baby’s needs, which meant Mummy had to eat something.

“Morning, honey… Well, you are sweet as honey to me. Do you like that, Rose? Honey?” Smiled the Doctor to Rose as he gestured for her to have a seat. Rose’s pleased expression indicated that she did like it. Rose liked very much that The Doctor was using terms of endearment with her and reasoned that it was now unobjectionable for her to do the same. Though she could not think of a better term of endearment then, ‘My Doctor’, but there was always time to find more. Smiling at the thought, Rose sat down and took the mug of tea that The Doctor then offered her. It was ginger and although the medicine that the TARDIS provided for her worked wonders, she still didn’t mind drinking something settling too. You could never have too much of a settled stomach, she reasoned. As soon as Rose had eaten her toast she looked to her Time Lord and very tentatively asked,

“You weren’t there when I woke up. How was the night for you?” The Doctor smiled back though it was clear he still was a little uncomfortable about the nursery,

“Well first off there really isn’t any night or day on the TARDIS. It was a little difficult but having you there, and yes even the baby’s mind, helped.” Smiled The Doctor as he placed a gentle hand on Rose’s abdomen.  
  
“We don’t have to sleep there all the time. I was just too tired to walk back to our room even if the TARDIS put it behind the first door.” Explained Rose as she placed her hand over The Doctor's. The Doctor would not have Rose thinking that there was any place on the TARDIS that she should feel uneasy about and assured her that it was just a room like any other on the TARDIS.  
  
“It’s not like any other room, Doctor. It’s a reminder of both our planets, a bit more on your side, but it’s a lovely room. It’s a marriage of both our planets and it’s wonderful that the TARDIS is giving our little girl such a gift. Maybe The TARDIS is trying to help you address some of your issues from the war too. I know that you won’t get over everything overnight but I’ll be here to help you through it all. And once the baby is born, we will be making so many happy memories in that room that it will be easier and easier to be in it.” Assured Rose. The Doctor took Rose’s hand and kissed her knuckles.

“How come you always know just what to say?” He asked in wonderment of the amazing person in front of him. Rose blushed a bit and she thought that they might snog again, but then The Doctor was up like a shot.

“Anyway, I’ve got a real treat in store for you today, Rose Tyler Smith. Follow me and I’ll explain our latest destination on Air TARDIS. Well not really air, we aren’t flying, but more like floating with a bit of swimming…” Rambled The Doctor as Rose followed closely behind while still in her bathrobe.  
  
Rose learned of their newest destination, a fun trip to a historic concert in the 1970s, though he had not said which concert yet. Rose was excited none the less and wanted to get as close to looking ready for the part as she could. Unfortunately she wasn’t sure what in the clothing she brought with her on the TARDIS would be suited for the trip, and most of her clothing was starting to be very tight around the middle. As luck would have it though without having to rely on the TARDIS’s wardrobe she found a denim mini-dungarees outfit that still fit just fine. Though she couldn’t decide if it hid her condition more or showed it off as the clothing was baggy enough.

  
“What do you think of this? Will it do?” Asked Rose of her husband as she showed off the outfit that made her look a little bit wild. Hopefully wild enough for the 1970s. She had partly dressed herself in their room and the rest in the console room and The Doctor had to fight off the urge to stare at her. The Doctor surveyed his pregnant wife from toe to head and he liked what he saw. He was also pleased that Rose felt comfortable enough with him again to be seen in all forms of dress in front of him. Well almost all forms, they had yet to parade in front of each other in their birthday suits yet. Now that he had thought of that he was actually hoping and excited that they might get to that point in their relationship again soon. He hoped that Rose liked his new body this way. He knew that she had to at least seen some of it when she had dressed him back at Christmas. The Time Lord thought it almost funny that he was insecure in everything about his body except his, um parts. Those he was sure Rose would like, call it a little arrogance, but there you have it. He looked at Rose again obviously she was ready to rock out and safely as an expectant mother could. The Doctor approved of the short outfit but teasingly declared,

  
“In the late 1970s? You'd be better off in a bin bag. Hold on, listen to this.” The Doctor then pulled out a CD and placed it into the TARDIS console…Rose was not aware that the console had a CD player, but the more she thought about it, why would it not? The TARDIS made anything and had anything.  
  
  


“Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Number One in 1979.” Noted The Doctor as he stalked about the TARDIS showing off his Time Lord knowledge to impress his human bride. 

  
“You're a punk.” Smirked Rose as she admired the Time Lord from his great hair to his gorgeous bum.   
  
  


“It's good to be a lunatic.” Sang The Doctor with the music as he worked about the TARDIS controls. Rose regarded the man before her and realized that this taste in music he had would have had to have been gathered before they met. Bemused with the idea she pictured her first Doctor behaving in the same manner and listening to music like that which was playing now. Well that must have been before the war. She could not picture her Doctor doing that between when they met and the war. Maybe this was more like he was before hand and Rose was happy that The Doctor was coming out of his shell and sharing something as personal as music taste with her. She didn’t want to give herself too much credit but she couldn’t help but wonder if her being there for him through the rough times and now the prospect of their new family together had changed him for the better. Okay, she lied to herself, she did want to give herself a lot of credit and it gave her the courage to be more territorial with her claim to the man in front of her. And why shouldn’t she feel a claim to him, he was her husband. Coyly she stalked him as he hit a ridiculous high note and Rose first winched and then laughed.  
  


“That's what you are. A big old punk with a bit of rockabilly thrown in.” Grinned Rose as she came up behind The Doctor and pinched his behind and continued to stalk him somewhat seductively around the TARDIS console as he punched in coordinates staying just ever so enticingly out of her reach. The Doctor had looked at first surprised at the action from his bride, but then gave Rose a toothy grin similar to the one on her face.

“Would you like to see him?” Asked The Doctor as if it were nothing. Rose was taken aback by the statement.

“How'd you mean? In concert? Inquired Rose for clarity.

“What else is a TARDIS for? I can take you to the Battle of Trafalgar, the first anti-gravity Olympics, Caesar crossing the Rubicon or Ian Dury at the Top Rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21st November, 1979. What do you think?” Bragged The Doctor oh so impressively to his wife. Originally he had wanted a distraction for himself, but now that Rose was before him with her hair that wild, he was pulling all the stops out to astonish her with his Time Lord abilities. If he were honest with himself what he wanted was to turn Rose on. He was the amazing alien with the best ride in all of time and space. He was hot, and he wanted Rose to want him. Which he was pretty sure, based on her grabby behavior, that she did.   
  


“Sheffield it is.” Stated Rose, excited for the concert. How many people got to see concerts long over, live? And not just a recording, actually be there when it happened. Just her and The Doctor it seemed. She traveled though all of time and space, but the idea of getting to go, see and do anything still had not sunk in yet. Maybe it never would. She guessed that she was looking at time travel as more of a history lesson of important events and people. Taking advantage of a time machine as a means to enjoy the more contemporary entertainments, like past famous concerts on Earth had not occurred to her. Now that you thought of it, why had it not? Music could be very important to changing history, but you could always re-experience music as long as there was a recording of it no matter the era. Seeing it as it was preformed for the first time live was another story. Too bad The Doctor had not told her until now, she might have taken her mother along to a Beatles or Elvis concert if she could stomach a trip in time. Maybe that was why he had not said anything until now, he wanted her to himself with no mother-in-law tagging along. The Doctor had been more scared of her mother in his old form than he was now it seemed, but he still was wary of pissing her off. He had been a good sport around her in this form so far, but a trip with his mother-in-law definitely seemed a bit off in the future if it was to happen at all. Rose was still impressed though, the old him never did anything as domestic as Christmas dinner, guess her family had won him over a little. Was she now living with a semi-feral Time Lord? Rose pondered to herself as The Doctor began to finished the ordinates to their destination.  
  


“Hold on tight.” Warned The Doctor. Rose then sat down on the jumpseat while gripping the seat tightly. The Doctor beat along with the rhythm of the song on the console with a mallet as they traveled through time and space. Rose had no idea if he was doing it for fun or if he actually was trying to repair something, but she could feel that the TARDIS did not like it.   
  


“Stop!” Declared Rose, afraid that The Doctor would anger the TARDIS and as punishment might move their bed to the ceiling. She had done that once before when The Doctor wore leather and much to The Doctor’s chagrin the TARDIS had pitched a tent on the ground where their bed should have been. Rose had spent that night in a replica of her old room at the Powell estate, since she knew that The Doctor didn’t sleep anyway. What she didn’t know was that The Doctor, that time especially, had been looking forward to their cuddling-ish time and was very much disappointed with his punishment from the TARDIS.

"Aw, I'm not hurting her, this bit always gets out of place when I'm traveling near this decade." Assured The Doctor. Rose was brought back from her musing when the TARDIS came to a sudden stop and The Doctor was somewhat roughly, but not dangerously so, thrown on the floor. The two time travelers laughed as The Doctor picked himself off the floor.

‘Serves you right.’ Smirked Rose to herself as she rocked back and forth on the jumpseat. Okay so he had not been hurting the TARDIS but Rose felt that he was certainly annoying her a lot. Somehow she knew that the TARDIS was a bit insulted by The Doctor hinting that any of her parts were out of alignment. The Doctor grabbed his coat and after pulling his wife to her feet, the Time Lord began to excitedly chatter as Rose helped him put on his coat.  
  
  


“1979. Hell of a year. China invades Vietnam. The Muppet Movie. Love that film. Margaret Thatcher. Urgh. Skylab falls to Earth, with a little help from me. Nearly took off my thumb.” Rambled on The Doctor to his wife as he exited the TARDIS.

“And I like my thumb. I need my thumb. I'm very attached t…My thumb. ” Trailed off The Doctor as he found himself looking at the business ends of late 19th century rifles and one pistol. No, not just one but several and they were pointed at his wife too. This was not good. They were surrounded by Redcoats with the officer in charge on a black horse looking down on them with intimidating stares.   
  


“1879. Same difference.” Noted The Doctor flippantly as he and Rose held up their hands in surrender. Rose was not happy that yet again they had managed to bumble their way into trouble. Well the coordinates on the TARDIS could have been wrong, and they could have been more careful to check first. Well the Doctor could have at least, but they both were rather distracted when they were setting the destination. Acting more like excited college teens than experienced time travelers.   
  


“You will explain your presence. And the nakedness of this girl.” Rose was about to note that she was a woman, not a girl, but The Doctor had beat her to the next remark.  
  
  


“Are we in Scotland?” Asked The Doctor jovially in a Scottish accent. This amused Rose to no end and if the circumstances were not what they were, she might have been finding her mind drifting to thoughts of The Doctor in a kilt and if he’d be a real Scotsman when he wore it.   
  


“How can you be ignorant of that?” Demanded the officer in important looking military garbs.   
  


“Oh, I'm, I'm dazed and confused. I've been chasing this…,er, me wee naked wife over hill and over dale. Very good at wandering off. Isn't that right, my timorous beastie?” Smirked The Doctor nervously. The armed guards looked incredulous at the idea that any respectable man would let his own wife wander about these hills in such a state of dress. The guards were more incline to believe that this man was covering up rather stupidly for an odd affair with a questionable woman. Or at least they would if not for the out of the way location they had been found. The middle of nowhere was an odd place to pick to have a love affair. If you wanted pleasurable company then you went to the seedy side of town. Or were they dropped here? Still if the otherwise skinny girl with him was a lady of ill repute then that made even less sense since it seemed that she might be pregnant. That was usually when many married men went looking for a mistress.  
  


“Och, aye! I've been oot and aboot.” Rose attempted to say in a really bad Scottish accent trying not to giggle despite the situation.  
  


“No, don't do that.” The Doctor warned his wife.  
  


“Hoots mon.” Replied Rose a bit indigently.   
  


“No, really don't. Really.” Warned The Doctor again this time more sternly.   
  


“Will you identify yourself, sir?” Said the head soldier, but it was more a demand than asking when a gun was pointed at you.   
  


“I'm Doctor James McCrimmon, from the township of Balamory. This here is Mrs. McCrimmon. I have my credentials, if I may.” Said The Doctor in his Scottish accent as he got out his psychic paper.   
  


“As you can see, a Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. I trained under Doctor Bell himself. Please stop pointing a gun at my wife, yeah?” Declared The Doctor hoping the paper would save him some trouble and get the guns trained off them.  
  


“Let them approach.” Said the feminine voice of an older woman from the carriage behind the guards.   
  


“I don't think that's wise, ma'am. They are an unusual lot and most likely not fit to be seen with you.” Cautioned the head Soldier.   
  


“Let them approach. I think I may decide who is worth being seen with.” Said the female voice from the carriage, this time more firmly. The officer looked shaken by the reproach and realized that he had over stepped his authority. Regaining his composure, the man gestured to the two strangers in the direction of the carriage.  
  


“You will approach the carriage, and show all due deference.” Instructed the guard in all seriousness to the time traveling duo. The Doctor mock saluted the soldier and approached the carriage along with his wife. A footman then opened the door to the carriage to reveal the Imperial Widow herself, Queen Victoria.   
  


“Rose, might I introduce her Majesty Queen Victoria. Empress of India and Defender of the Faith.” Beamed The Doctor with all the pomp and circumstance expected of addressing royalty.  
  


“Rose Tyler Smith… McCrimmon, Ma'am. Smith that was my maiden name. Still getting used to it and my apologies for being so naked.” Rose said a bit sheepishly in the presence of such a famous person from her country’s own history, though to The Doctor it was just a fun novelty.  
  


“I've had five daughters. It's nothing to me. But you, Doctor. Show me these credentials.” Remarked the Queen as she gestured to be handed the psychic paper. The Doctor did just that and the Queen looked it over with much surprise, but then very pleased.  
  
  


“Why didn't you say so immediately? It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my Protector.” Declared the Queen as she handed The Doctor back his ‘paper’. This The Doctor was not expecting, he was actually hoping to make a hasty return to the TARDIS and check Rose over for any ill effect that being held at gun point could do to an expectant mother. After that and some rest they then could finally get to 1979, where he meant to take her. True he was curious as to what the Queen was doing her in the middle of seemingly nowhere and he loved a good mystery, but Rose took priority. Still they were stuck playing the roles they were in now and best to make the most of it. He could always run a sonic scan on Rose on the sly and now that the threat of having lead put into them was gone, things were much more pleasant. Still something must be up if the Queen felt that she needed more protection when she already had this many guards at her disposal.  
  


“Does it? Yes, it does. Good. Good. Then let me ask - why is Your Majesty travelling by road when there's a train all the way to Aberdeen?” Said The Doctor slipping right into the role he was expected to play. Rose loved it when The Doctor was like this. No matter what face he had on or what he was wearing, he always managed to fit in seamlessly. His take-charge attitude also made her feel protected and gave her the extra courage to boldly travel in Time and Space. She had to admit that if The Doctor did not seem worried, then she did not feel the reason to either. Rose was getting too good at reading him now for him to too easily mask concern. Other than the fact that he had obviously been upset that guns had been trained on her, he seemed to now be at relative ease. That being said, Rose was going to make the most of this trip, and have fun even if she wasn’t dressed right for the time period.  
  


“A tree on the line.” Explained the Queen as she straightened up yet more.   
  


“An accident?” The doctor questioned.   
  


“I am the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned.” Noted the Queen. The Doctor nodded his head in understanding and questioned,   
  


“An assassination attempt?”   
  


“What, seriously? There's people out to kill you?” Asked Rose, a bit uncivil in her address, not believing that someone would try to kill or could be able to kill a British monarch. Rose was too much a product of her time and assassination attempts on British Royals seemed too set back in medieval times to be an issue in a more modern British time period. Though some attempts had been made on more modern monarchs but again that had been before Rose was born too.  
  


“I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun.” Bragged the Queen to Rose. The Officer then remarked,  
  


“Sir Robert MacLeish lives but ten miles hence. We've sent word ahead. He'll shelter us for tonight, then we can reach Balmoral tomorrow.”   
  


“This Doctor and his timorous beastie will come with us.” Commanded the Queen. The officer looked a little annoyed by The Doctor’s smug grin but rallied his men and obeyed.   
  


“Yes, Ma'am. We'd better get moving - it's almost nightfall.” Said the officer on horseback.   
  


“Indeed. And there are stories of wolves in these parts. Fanciful tales intended to scare the children. But good for the blood, I think. Drive on!” Stated the Queen as she commanded her caravan to move forward.

A half hour later The Doctor and Rose found themselves walking with the soldiers behind the carriage. Rose was actually enjoying the walk and although The Doctor had asked her if she was good to walk in her condition, Rose was having none of that. She was touched at his concern, but she was pregnant not infirm,

“I’m fine, Doctor. My ankles haven’t even started to swell yet like you see on Tele. Let’s wait until I look ready to pop and we’ll maybe take it a little easy. What’s good for me is good for the baby. A walk is just the exercise I need, look that castle I can see it already.” Grinned Rose, a walk was not the most dangerous thing that could happen to her after all. The Doctor apologized; he did not want Rose thinking that he questioned her abilities. He just told her that he was concern.

“This whole human pregnancy thing is new to me too, Rose. Granted I have delivered babies before, but never really stuck around to see the whole process. Pregnancy was a novelty when you had looms on my planet.” Said The Doctor a bit sheepish. Rose gave The Doctor a kiss on the cheek and the two held hands as they continued to follow the carriage. As Rose stared at the back of Queen Victoria’s carriage, she began to mull over what the Queen and The Doctor had discussed earlier.  
  


“It's funny though, because you say assassination and you just think of Kennedy and stuff. Not her.” Remarked Rose as she pondered history. The Doctor took in a deep breath and rolled some numbers in his head as he said,   
  


“1879? She's had, oh, six attempts on her life? And I'll tell you something else. We just met Queen Victoria!”   
  


“I know!” Cheered Rose as she hugged The Doctor’s arm.   
  


“What a laugh!” Giggled The Doctor as Rose made a note that she was just sitting there.  
  


“Like a stamp.” Grinned The Doctor again as the two bantered back and forth in a puppy love-ish dialog.   
  


“I want her to say 'we are not amused.' I bet you five quid I can make her say it.” Giggle Rose to her husband who was holding on to her hand. The terrain was a bit uneven and he did not want her falling down. Even though Rose had insisted that she wasn’t that pregnant yet.   
  


“Well, if I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my privileges of traveler in time.” Declared The Doctor in a very noble voice.   
  


“Ten quid and a snog on the jumpseat? Shot back Rose.  
  


“Done.” Replied The Doctor with a slight squeak in his voice.

The caravan finally reach the formidable looking manor known as Torchwood house to be greeted by its occupants. The Master of the house came out and as soon as the Queen had alighted from her carriage the well dressed man of the house came to greet her.  
  


“Your Majesty.” Said a rather nervous looking man, called Sir Robert. The Doctor attributed that to meeting with the Queen for what might be the first time. The Doctor took stock of the household staff in front of him with so many very fit looking men about, but no woman to be seen yet.   
  


“Sir Robert. My apologies for the emergency. And how is Lady Isobel?   
  


“She's indisposed, I'm afraid. She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are barely stocked. I wouldn't blame Your Majesty if you wanted to ride on.” Said the man apparently too embarrassed to have the Queen stay when his house was so understaffed. The Doctor was beginning to form an interesting picture about the head of the house now, but it was no concern of his. Just amusing and wondered if it was as obvious to the other around him as it was to him.   
  


“Oh, not at all. I've had quite enough carriage exercise. And this is charming, if rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate. Now, shall we go inside? And please excuse the naked girl.” Smiled the Queen to Sir Robert as she gestured to Rose at the end of her sentence. What a thing to have to be apologized for, thought Rose. Rose was now feeling very naked actually. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but she had felt perfectly clothed on the TARDIS and now she felt like she was running around the hills of Scotland in her undergarments.  
  


“Sorry.” Apologized Rose as she looked down, blushed, and leaned more towards The Doctor as if it would help her feel more hidden from prying eyes. The Doctor knew that he would pay for it later but he had to explain away the state of Rose’s dress or people would start asking too many questions. He decided that the simplest explanation would due and although Rose would probably make him sorry for teasing her later, he couldn’t help himself.  
  


“She's a feral child. Well was. Just got her talking now. I bought her for sixpence in old London Town. Since then I’ve been making it my project civilizing and taming her, we sort of fell in love and got married. Still has a wild streak in her though, but we’re working on that. Thought a trip to the country would help. Might soon have her in decent clothing soon, wee baby steps no need to overwhelm her newly civilized mind, bless her. Didn’t think it would be a problem way out here. Anyway, I think I made the right choice in my purchase of her. It was her or the Elephant Man, right. Not as attractive, though could have been interesting to conversate…” Rose stepped on his converse covered toes as hard as she could without it being glaringly obvious to everyone about.

  
“Thinks he's funny but I'm so not amused. What do you think, Ma'am?” Said Rose annoyed with her husband’s back-story for her in front of the Queen and wanting more to win money off him. And as for the last part, regardless of the results, she’d make him beg at this point.

  
“It hardly matters. Shall we proceed?” Said the Queen in a dismissive tone, not interested in the subject and wishing the feral child would talk less. She was tired and hungry.   
  


“So close.” Groaned Rose at her luck as the Queen went inside the building. Following behind her the guards carried her affects.  
  
  


“Makerson and Ramsey, you will escort the property. Hurry up.” Said the Officer to his men who obeyed and carried a small locked box from the carriage and into the house.   
  


“So what's in there, then?” Asked The Doctor, curious as to the secretiveness and security around the small locked box.   
  


“Property of the Crown. You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir.” The officer Reynolds all but growled at The Doctor before turning to the rest of his men and ordering,

“The rest of you go to the rear of the house. Assume your designated positions.” With no other instructions The Doctor and Rose then followed the Queen. All the while Rose was cooking up ideas for possible ways to win her bet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> I don’t like this Queen cause we all know what she does to The Doctor and Rose. I also don't really care for her as a person, because of how she treated the people she oppressed during her reign, especially the Irish during times of famine. I don't find her kind and she didn't treat her kids too nicely either in my opinion. That being said she was a complicated person to say the least and after studying her life, for the purpose of writing her better, I do admire her resilience and ability to survive the abusive and toxic environment that she was raised in, though I don't think she came out of it unscathed. I mean seriously, her mother and basically mother's boyfriend, did everything the could to turn her into a puppet and it didn't work. Though I think that if it had been available at the time, she could have benefited from a lot of therapy and family therapy. 
> 
> Back to the happy couple. The Doctor and Rose are becoming more hands on, if you know what I mean. Do you think their relationship is moving on naturally enough? Feedback is always appreciated and makes me post faster.  
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	11. The Queen’s Throne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WEREWOLF!

**Complications**  
  
by The Plot Thinens  
  
 **Chapter 11 – The Queen’s Throne**  
  
  


“This, I take it, is the famous Endeavour.” Declared the Queen as she set her eyes on the massive bronze telescope in the observatory before her.   
  


“All my father's work. Built by hand in his final years. Became something of an obsession. He spent his money on this rather than caring for the house or himself.” Stated Sir Robert in response to his Queen’s remark while looking most uncomfortable. The Doctor stared at the massive telescope with the wide eyes of a child and smiling he stated in his Scottish accent,   
  


“I wish I'd met him. I like him. That thing's beautiful. Can I have a look?” The Doctor looked to Sir Robert for permission and after being told to help himself, The Doctor indeed helped himself to a closer look. Rose being just as interested followed close behind The Doctor, a large cog like part of the telescope catching her eye before moving on to the part that looked like a telescope in her eyes.  
  
  


“What did he model it on?” Inquired The Doctor.   
  


“I know nothing about it. To be honest, most of us thought him a little, shall we say, eccentric. I wish now I'd spent more time with him and listened to his stories.” Said the man in a nervous but still mournful voice. The Doctor looked down the barrel of the telescope to find not what he was expecting and quite rudely said,   
  


“It's a bit rubbish. How many prisms has it got? Way too many. The magnification's gone right over the top. That's stupid kind of…” The Doctor, then catching himself in the middle of a gobfest, leaned over to his wife asked in an apprehensive voice,

“Am I being rude again?” Rose with a pained grin on her face answered the affirmative and patted her husband on the shoulder urging him without more words, to mind his manners before his mouth ended up getting them in a jail cell, again.  
  


“But it's pretty. It's very pretty.” Added The Doctor to his host, trying to save himself from his own rude behavior.   
  


“And the imagination of it should be applauded.” Noted the Queen. Rose saw yet another chance to win her little bet now that the Queen had addressed the two of them again, or at least The Doctor. Bucking up her courage again Rose inquired of the Queen,   
  


“Mmm. Thought you might disapprove, Your Majesty. Stargazing. Isn't that a bit fanciful? You could easily not be amused, or something? No?” 

The Doctor came up behind his bride and rubbed his face with his hand. It was now his turn to be wishing that his partner would mind what they said. He couldn’t believe that she was going this far to win a bet for something that he would willingly give to his wife anyway. Rose just liked to win he guessed. She had always been in it to win whenever they had played any cards of any kind when they were both human. Especially after they were married and it was clothing at stake rather than poker chips. He remembered one particular time when she had not lost a single hand and she paraded about with John’s rather large sweater around her neck like a cape, and holding the rest of his clothing like a trophy while he sat quite in need of clothing. He had remembered it being a bit cold in the house and that if he wasn’t sure some activities might happen in a bit that would make him over heated, he would have turned up the thermostat.

“Wicked, you. You were never this bold before in stakes when we played cards in the past.” John had accused as he followed her around the house starkers. He could have just as easily gone into his drawers and gotten new clothing to wear, but it was the principal. Besides now that they were married, it was more than appropriate for him to follow Rose around the house in such a state. Maybe he could use it to his advantage, long enough to steal at least his boxer briefs back. Rose smirked and replied,

“You weren’t good and properly mine before. I’m just for once better at something than you, and to my benefit.”

“Oh you’re better at a lot of things than me.” Said John trying to butter her up so he could get closer.

“Like what?” Demanded Rose seductively. John made a big show of considering before leaning in toward her face to say,

“Kissing for one.” John thought that he had distracted her enough and grabbed for his underwear, but only managed to swipe back one of his socks. Apparently Rose was not so easily tricked.

“Ooo, sneaky. You’ll have to try harder than that.” Grinned Rose who then ran off down the hall and down the stairs to the first floor where there were plenty of places to hide from a lusty and thwarted husband.

“Oh, I can give you a very hard time, Mrs. Smith! Just as soon as I catch you!” John shouted as he ran off after his wife only to be eluded for another hour until Rose had finally given him back his clothing on her terms. Of course by that point he didn’t so much want to be wearing clothing again just yet. Anyway the Queen was talking again and it was time for The Doctor to get such ‘torturous’ memories out of his mind for the moment.   
  


“This device surveys the infinite work of God. What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairytales.” Said Victoria with a reverent voice, clearly she held the departed man in high regard.  
  


“Stars and magic. I like him more and more.” Smirked The Doctor getting closer behind his wife.  
  


“Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company. Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe Coburg.” Beamed the Queen.   
  


“That's Bavaria.” Explained The Doctor to Rose as she looked a bit confused as to the place the Queen was talking about. Ah that made perfect sense as to why Victoria respected the man so much. It was a well known fact that the Queen all but worshiped her late husband when he was alive to the point of obsession and, after the fact, not much had changed. To her, Albert could do no wrong and anyone that he had seen fit to spend so much time with was a very respectable person in her mind.   
  


“When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported.” Smiled the Queen as if she were bragging about a saint.   
  


“So, what's this wolf, then?” Asked The Doctor of Sir Robert, part out of his curiosity to learn more about the interests of this eccentric father of Sir Robert’s that was now departed. The other part in wanting his mind off of what was inappropriate in the presence of company as he moved about the room.   
  


“It's just a story.” Said Sir Robert looking nervous. Perhaps if The Doctor wasn’t so distracted by trying not to think of the ‘feral woman’, not child, standing just in front of him, he might have noticed how the good Sir Robert, seemed terrified of his surprisingly bald staff.   
  


“Then tell it.” Insisted The Doctor, looking for an excuse to distract everyone in the room for a few moments, as he was finding suppressing his memories from poker nights gone by all the harder to do.   
  


“It's said that…” the man tried to explain, but in a fashion highly irregular, Sir Robert’s butler interrupted his master to speak.   
  


“Excuse me, sir. Perhaps her Majesty's party could repair to their rooms. It's almost dark.” Stated the bald butler. Even more nervous now, Robert agreed with his ‘servant’.   
  


“And then supper. And could we find some clothes for Mrs. McCrimmon? I'm tired of nakedness.” Added the Queen in an irritated tone towards the end. Quite frankly she wished this McCrimmon man would have taught his wife better manners, even if she was just recently plucked from some godforsaken jungle by the merciful hands of civilization.  
  


“It's not amusing, is it?” Asked Rose still as determined to win her bet as she was still star struck to be talking to Queen Victoria. The Queen indeed did not look amused, but she did not say so and The Doctor silently scolded Rose for pushing her luck. Rose however felt that she was so close that time that she poked the Time Lord to jeer him that she would win yet. The Doctor then to get revenge gave his wife a subtle pinch to the behind as the Queen spoke. Rose of course could not bring attention to herself and what her husband was doing. So she shot a half annoyed look at her Doctor. Maybe later The Time Lord would brag about fooling around in front of the Queen with Rose, he thought as Victoria discussed with Sir Robert about getting Rose into what she thought as decent clothing. She then ordered,   
  


“We shall dine at seven, and talk some more of this wolf. After all, there is a full moon tonight.”   
  


“So there is, Ma'am.” Remarked Robert with some dread in his voice.

“Feral Child?" Stated Rose. That had been what The Doctor had called her earlier to explain away her wild looking appearance. She supposed that since she was dressed for the 1979 and not 1879 that it made sense, but he didn't have to make her feel like bloody TARZAN of the Apes just come to civilization! Honestly she was just surprised that they believed him but she guessed that slightly psychic paper solved most issues. Still wild woman was the first excuse in his big head? Teasing alien husband. 

"Well, The Doctor might like seeing the ‘feral child’ in this…Though I might make him beg to see me out of it…” Rose said to herself most likely in half mock anger as she looked through Lady Robert’s wardrobe. There were plenty to try on and Rose marveled at how much money the lady of the house must have at her disposal to leave this much behind on a trip. The room was elegant in stained shining wooden furniture and a very large four poster bed not unlike their own bed in the baby’s room back on the TARDIS. Although Rose and The Doctor’s guest room that they had been offered in the manor was not as elegant, she couldn’t help but fantasize about the two of them in it later and what they might finally get up to with an 19th century backdrop, after some begging on The Doctor’s part, of course. Couldn’t let him get off too easy after all his teasing. But enough of those thoughts of what to do not wearing clothing, she had to focus on finding appropriate clothing to wear. 

Rose giggled as she held up each dress in front of the mirror hoping that when she finally decided on a dress that it would slide on okay with her slightly larger abdomen. Maternity clothing wasn’t exactly as fashionable back then. In fact, she did recall The Doctor telling her that most pregnant women were hidden away from public eye once they started to show and only came out in public after the fact. This would probably explain why she had never seen a picture of a pregnant woman in any drawing or photograph from this time period that she could ever recall from any history class or documentary. 

She finally was looking over a lovely blue velvet dress. She found the dress to her liking and swished it about in the mirror as she held it in front of her. Hoping to find more clothing to go with it and possibly more appropriate shoes, Rose opened another cupboard in the room only to discover a very terrified housemaid. Rose was quite startled herself and had to stop herself from screaming too loudly in kind. The woman seemed somewhat relieved to see another woman and not a scary bald man, but was still on edge. Taking pity on the poor girl, Rose led her to the bed to sit down before the poor woman passed out from hyperventilating. The maid began to explain the horrors that where going on in the house.  
  


“…They came through the house. In the excitement they took the Steward and the Master, and my Lady.” Said the young woman in a panicked voice. Rose was confused at first by her ramblings but quickly put two and two together. Trying to calm the woman, Rose squeezed her shoulders and tried to make the woman focus on her voice.  
  


“Listen. My husband. He's called The Doctor. He'll know what to do. You've got to come with me.” Rose assured the frightened woman. Rose knew that no matter the danger, The Doctor could get on top of it, if they could safely get to him.   
  


“Oh, but I can't, Miss.” Said the maid too scared to leave the safety of the room gave and looking to hide right back in the wardrobe again. Rose had to get her mind off of being scared and realized that she needed to build a rapport with the maid and very quickly.   
  


“What's your name?” Rose asked to get her to focus on not being scared and establish a friendly bond. Nervously and very quietly the woman answered that her name was Flora.   
  


“Flora, I’m Rose and we flowers stick together. We'll be safe. There's more people arrived downstairs, soldiers and everything, and they can help us. I promise. Come on. Okay? Come on.” Assured Rose that the tide had turned in their favor, if they could just warn the Doctor and all the soldiers of the treachery afoot. Rose took the woman’s hand and after a quick mental reassurance to her baby that her heightened level of stress was nothing to worry about Rose quietly opened the door and looked out into the hall. The coast was clear and Rose led Flora down the corridor, but as soon as they turned the corner they spotted one of the soldiers lying on the floor and Flora began to panic a bit too loudly for Rose’s liking.   
  


“Oh, Miss. I did warn you.” She said standing stiff with fear as Rose checked for a pulse on the man.   
  


“He's not dead. I don't think, he must be drugged or something.” Rose reassured the woman. Rose now realized that things were moving very fast and she needed to get to The Doctor right away, but before they could do that the bald butler, really known as Father Angelo, grabbed Flora from behind and dragged her away. Rose heard the woman’s scream and looked to help her only to have another of Angelo’s followers take Rose away, while a third removed the soldier on the floor from view. Rose kicked and tried to scream but the man was easily overpowering her in her off balanced position. The man then punched Rose in her kidney, before gesturing to punch her again, this time in front. Rose reluctantly stilled her struggling; she could not risk her child. She just hoped that The Doctor would notice her missing soon and that she was only being brought away to be imprisoned and not killed.

With the troublesome whore of The Doctor out of the way, Angelo confidently entered into the dining room where his unsuspecting prey sat eating.

“Your wife begs an apology, Doctor. Her clothing has somewhat delayed her.” Angelo said nonchalantly. The Doctor was not surprised that Rose might have trouble fitting into tightly fitting Victorian era clothing especially without help. With any female staff seemingly gone Rose would have to make due alone. Personally he would not mind helping her, but he was interested in hearing the story about the wolf and he imagined leaving the Queen abruptly to help Rose might be seen as rude to such a woman. Ever since her husband died, she was not in the habit of being happy for other people’s marriages. Besides they thought that she was a feral child, just starting to learn the ways of civilization. If she came to the party late, with her hair in a mess and the dress on backwards they would just assume it was her upbringing among whatever animals that raised her that were to blame.  
  


“Oh, that's all right. Save ma wife a wee bit of ham, she does need her strength.” Smirked The Doctor to the others around the table. The Queen had seen that The Doctor was more or less accepting that his wife was uncivilized and had much need for improvement so she did not feel any misgivings commenting,  
  


“The feral child could probably eat it raw.” Reynolds, of course, found the joke the Queen made funny and a bit over enthusiastically complimented his queen on how very witty she was. The Doctor was just glad Rose wasn’t there to hear it as someone might end up with a chandelier to the head. The Queen obviously not amused by Reynolds obvious sucking up remarked,  
  


“Slightly witty, perhaps. I know you rarely get the chance to dine with me, Captain, but don't get too excited. I shall contain my wit in case I do you further injury.”   
  


“Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am.” Answered Reynolds like a scolded child. Knowing that also no more jokes would be on the menu for the evening either.  
  


“Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert. Come, sir. You promised us a tale of nightmares.” Said The Doctor leaning forward on the table with a bit of a dramatic voice. Sir Robert, ever the nervous and quite frankly dull host sat there as if the devil himself were watching him.  
  


“Indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction.” Announced the Queen to which The Doctor who having experiences much loss in his day including thinking he had lost Rose multiple times said to the Queen in sympathy,  
  


“You must miss him.” Victoria was brought back to thoughts of her late husband. Nobody understood how much she had lost and certainly not a young man such as The Doctor who lived a cavalier life enough it seemed to not care for the injuries to propriety that ‘wedding’ a savage, if one could actually marry a godless savage, would bring to him and any society he hoped to socialize with. Still all she needed him for was protection which he was despite his personal choices in life, was more than qualified to do according to his papers. And this trip was all for Albert’s memory anyway, she could endure any questionable company. No love was ever like Albert and hers which had been taken away from her far too soon. Composing herself she replied,  
  


“Very much… Oh, completely.” Then realizing that she might be giving away too much emotion, straightened up and continued,

“And that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery that we're allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait…” 

The Doctor ever understood how the Queen felt. The Time Lords had a grasp on most mysteries of life and the universe and were even able to preserve the consciousness of a dead Time Lord for future use or posterity. This was sort of a form of an afterlife. Even regeneration was a means of cheating death and that great unknown. But now that was all gone and on some lonely times, The Doctor wondered what would become of him next once there were no more regenerations left. And if he would be expected to pay for his crimes. He didn’t know. Did it scare him? Of course. Was it a thrilling and terrifying mystery? Yes. Did he want to know the answer? Maybe, eventually, but not now. Rassilon not now. He actually had things to live for now. But what he reasoned scared most beings, for he was not alone in the fear of death. Why even with having a faith that so many were afraid of dying, was probably because the thought, even if ever so small, sat in the darkest corner of minds that maybe there might not be anything at all and that this was it. That those lost we would never see again. Just blackness and no more. The Doctor shivered a bit, but then the Queen began talking again.

“Come. Begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters.” Mused the Queen quite interested in the subject and brushing off the very personal statements she had just made.

Rose sat in the cellar chained along with Flora and the other missing members of the household, including the Lady of the house Isobel. Rose stared at a curious, but intimidating figure sitting in a metal cage in front of them. He looked like a young monk and he was sitting quietly and not making a sound.   
  


“Don't make a sound. They said if we scream or shout, then he will slaughter us.” Warned Lady Isobel to Rose. Rose however was not convinced and questioning authority as usual Rose asked,   
  


“But he's in a cage. He's a prisoner. He's the same as us.” Rose did not understand what was the big deal and why everyone was more scared of a man in a cage than being imprisoned in a cold dungeon. For Pete’s sake, they were all at least properly clothed. Rose was a bit on the chilly side and not just from the atmosphere.   
  


“He's nothing like us. That creature is not mortal.” Said the Lady in a pitiful voice. The young man in the cage then opened his eyes and they were completely black. Unusual Rose thought but nothing she had not seen before. She's seen lots of people with stranger eyes and not always encased in a head like hers and this man's eyes. Rose was growing ever more curious as to whom this person was and she wasn’t going to stand around waiting to be rescued, she was going to find a way out. First step was to gather any intelligence from this unusual man who seemed to have the staff scared half to death.

Back in the Dining Room Sir Robert was finally telling his tale that everyone was so keen to hear. Ever the nervous man Sir Robert explained,

“The story goes back three hundred years. Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and devoured.” The last part the poor man said as if his stomach might turn from the thought. Now seeing his chance to look ever the sensible and intelligent man before his Queen Reynolds sat up straight and cockily declared,   
  


“Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves. Steal a sheep and blame a wolf, simple as that.” Secretly not wanting his tale to go so easily dismissed as the man desperately wanted to confess the danger in his home without it becoming known to his captors, Sir Robert with more enthusiasm insisted,  
  


“But sometimes a child goes missing. Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead.”

Rose had mustered the courage, where others bigger than her had not. Trying not to rub her belly to comfort herself and her child, as she had been in the habit of doing lately, she tried her best to look brave. She needed to be The Doctor in this moment and she could not show vulnerability if it could be helped. Moving towards the crate, as far as the chain would let her, she tried to engage the person in conversation.   
  


“Don't, child.” Begged the Lady of the house. Rose was getting annoyed with being called ‘child’ especially since she was carrying one, her state of dress in their eyes must have made them assume she was a child because what sensible English woman would be seen like she was? Still she thought that she looked adult enough and not like a child body-wise, but she would overlooked that offense to focus on the task at hand.   
  


“Who are you?” Rose asked a bit apprehensively before getting on her knees to look the young caged man better in the eyes.  
  


“Don't enrage him.” Warned the Steward of the house, but Rose was not going to cower like the rest of these people. She needed answers and now.

  
“Where are you from? You're not from Earth. What planet are you from?” Questioned Rose with a hint of fear in her voice that she was trying to mask. She knew that anything that seemed alien to her world, most likely was. And it certainly was not out of the ordinary in her world at least to find humans and or aliens taking advantage of each other throughout time and space. This man could be an alien being taken advantage of or pulling the strings, but him being caged made the last idea more unlikely.

  
“Oh, intelligence.” Mused the young looking monk. This wasn’t a normal stupid human, she had her eyes open unlike the humans that closed their eyes and cowered in the corner. They always cowered, hoping that he could not see them in the dark, but his eyes saw all and their fear was a smell hard to miss.  
  


“Where were you born?” Asked Rose, trying to sleuth for an answer to help her figure out just what she was dealing with without The Doctor to tell her.

  
“This body? Ten miles away. A weakling, heartsick boy, stolen away at night by the brethren for my cultivation. I carved out his soul and sat in his heart.” Explained the creepy looking man in a rat like voice. Well that was getting somewhere thought Rose, fearing that the information that this person had to give could only get worse.

**“** Are there descriptions of the creature?” Asked The Doctor, as he knew that mythical creatures were often known alien species to him. Throughout history sometimes aliens were accidentally seen by the less evolved population of Earth when they came to visit for whatever reason.   
  


“Oh, yes, Doctor. Drawings and woodcarvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal.” The Doctor finally got the connection. It was a very classic monster of the humans’ monster pantheon,   
  


“A werewolf?” He grinned in acknowledgement as he grew more interested. The Queen and even Reynolds were finding themselves sucked into the dramatic exchanges between The Doctor and Sir Robert.

“All right, so the body's human. But what about you, the thing inside?” Questioned Rose as she continued her interrogation. She needed to stay on task so fear would not set in.   
  


“So far from home.” Declared the caged man.  
  


“If you want to get back home, we can help.” Assured Rose to the obviously marooned alien. There was no need for violence or further imprisonment of anyone if all this alien needed was a lift back home. This offer actually seemed to confuse the alien,  
  


“Why would I leave this place? A world of industry, of workforce and warfare. I could turn it to such purpose.” Hissed the creature clearly human only in body and most definitely not benign.   
  


“How would you do that?” Asked Rose, now scared of what the intentions, so obviously ill that this creature had for the Earth and its people.   
  


“I would migrate to the Holy Monarch.” The caged alien explained. Rose was very scared now and for clarity that she had not mistaken what the alien was saying asked,   
  


“You mean Queen Victoria?”   
  


“With one bite, I would pass into her blood, and then it begins. The Empire of the Wolf.” Hissed the man who then looked at Rose deeply.

“Many questions.” Noted the alien before lunging at the bars and growling.  
  


“Look. Inside your eyes. You've seen it too.” Stated the alien astonished by Rose.   
  


“Seen what?” Question Rose, still on guard from the lunge at the bars and very confused as to what the alien meant.   
  


“The Wolf. There is something of the Wolf about you.” Rose had no idea what this crazy sounding alien was barking about and trying to remain calm said that she did not know what the alien meant. Although secretly the hint of the words ‘Bad Wolf’ danced in the back of her head. Bad Wolf was still yet a mystery that was entwined with her and her daughter. Did this creature sense the Goddess of Time still on her? She certainly did not want him knowing anymore about that. The creature was trying for fearsome but his posturing had a hint of a dog barking at another dog in hopes that its bark alone could scare away the stronger dog. That is to say before the stronger dog realized that it was, in fact, stronger than the barking one. Ever cryptic the black eyed creature roared at Rose,   
  


“You burnt like the sun, but all I require is the moon.” And indeed a full moon hanged high in the sky over the manor that night.

“My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened.” Said Sir Robert conspiratorially as his butler oddly made his way across the room staring at something out the window. Seemingly uncaring Sir Robert continued his tale and The Doctor was starting to suspect that something was up.

“His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations.” Mourned Sir Robert for his lack of understanding from his father until it was too late. Angelo just continued to gaze out at the moon while chanting something in Latin ‘lupus dues’? That was most irregular.  
  


“Perhaps they thought his work ungodly.” Noted Victoria, but Robert dismissed this claim.   
  


“That's what I thought. But now I wonder. What if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet? What if they turned from God and worshiped the wolf?” Warned Sir Robert of his guests. The penny dropped and The Doctor knew that they were once again in the middle of trouble,   
  


“And what if they were with us right now?” Asked The Doctor as he stared at the butler chanting about a wolf god in Latin. This was not good at all. But Sir Robert was very relieved that his message had finally gotten through, but if only it was not too late.

The cellar doors were suddenly flung open, and the light shined into the dark and cold dungeon like place. The moon light fell on the crate and all in the cellar now saw the man in the crate clearly.   
“Moonlight.” Hummed the cloaked man to himself as the bright light shined into his eyes. He made a grin with his rotten looking teeth and then the young man removed his cloak as an unnatural wind started to seemingly blow through the cellar. Rose knew that this was bad news and now that their ‘jailer’ was distracted this was their time to escape if they were ever to have one.   
  


“All of you! Stop looking at it! Flora, don't look. Listen to me. Grab hold of the chain and pull! Come on! With me! Pull!” Commanded Rose, taking charge of the ‘rescue themselves’ party as the man in the crate started screaming inhuman screams. Surely there was enough strength between the whole of them to pull these disused chains from their buckles on the wall. And if these people needed motivation to pull on the chains then the young man reshaping himself into something hideous on the other side of the cellar was incentive enough. At least Rose thought so. Still they were too scared by what they did not understand and they stared in fear at the man in the crate. Rose needed them to focus on her if they wanted to get out before the situation got worst. One of the maids tried to protest that they had been ordered to not move and to stay quiet, but Rose was not having it. She was no damsel in distress and she wasn’t going to let anyone else in this cellar, man or woman, be one either.  
  


“I said pull! Stop your whining and listen to me! All of you! And that means you, your Ladyship. Now come on, pull!” Barked Rose to everyone on her ‘chain gang’. Finally, muster the ‘troops’ Rose and her ‘gang’ began to pull with all their might at the latch on the wall keeping them chained.

“What is the meaning of this?” Demanded the Queen, now very aware that something traitorous was afoot.   
  


“Explain yourself, Sir Robert!” Growled Reynolds with righteous fury as he pointed his pistol at Sir Robert and the butler.   
  


“What's happening?” The queen ordered. She wanted an explanation as she was very disturbed by the display before her.   
  


“I'm sorry, Your Majesty, they've got my wife.” Was all Sir Robert could pathetically say in his defense. The very words wife then caused The Doctor’s mind to jump-start. Where was his wife? She had been gone for far too long and it was this literal chanting lunatic that had said she was indisposed. If anything had happened to Rose, he would… Well he didn’t have time for that thought yet. The Doctor then snarled at the butler, 

“Rose! Where's Rose? Where is she?” Realizing that the man was ignoring him and more or less in a trance The Doctor abandoned the idea of getting any intelligence from him and shouted to the lord of the house,

“Sir Robert, come on!” He needed to find his Rose and he needed the master of the house to tell him where that was if he could. The two left the room without hesitation to find their mates. The Captain however did not follow The Doctor or Sir Robert, but just kept his revolver trained on the chanting monk. He had to protect his Queen. The Doctor was scared out of his mind. The closer he got to the cellar that Sir Robert said the prisoners were being held, the stronger he could feel the distress of his child’s mind. Something was wrong with Rose and he just hoped that he was not already too late to save his family.

The young man in the crate was now screaming in pain and appeared to be somewhat glowing. Cracks could be heard as if his bones were breaking under the cruel transformation. His face morphed and contorted as his features became more animal like and less human. It was as if he were changing into a dog, no not a dog, a wolf! Horrified but not deterred Rose continued to urge on and shout to her team of pullers. 

The werewolf was now fully formed, and examining its paws. Seeing that its prey was trying to escape, it quickly realized that it wanted out of its cage. It was time to hunt for a meal. Rose and her fellow inmates gave one last final pull to hopefully free themselves and escape. 

  
“One, two, three, pull!” Commanded Rose as everyone pulled like they did not care if their ripped their arms out of their sockets. Finally, the end of the chain broke free from the wall and at that instance The Doctor and Sir Robert kicked their way in through the locked door. Sir Robert ran to his wife who was happy to see him, while The Doctor got a much different reception.

  
“Where the hell have you been?” Demanded Rose in an angry and irritated voice. That was him. Always swanning off somewhere while she found out what was really going on. Which usually landed her in trouble, but that was beside the point. With a baby involved in the mix she would have to set a rule for when traveling for the foreseeable future. If I, Rose Tyler, am out of your sight for longer than an hour, then bloody come looking for me! The Doctor let out a sigh of relief that his family was unharmed. His child was still in distress but they were not out of danger just yet. He sent out assurance to his baby and then The Time Lord turned around to see the occupant of the crate trying to break out. The Doctor was astonished by the amazing creature before him and forgetting the danger for a moment in the presence of such an alien, marveled,

  
“Oh, that's beautiful.” The Doctor was so excited by the rare find that he almost did not hear Sir Robert encouraging everyone to get out of the cellar as the werewolf broke out of the crate. Realizing that the werewolf had gone from beautiful curiosity to danger, The Doctor snapped out of it and ran for his wife.

  
“Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!” Shouted The Doctor to everyone. To which Rose said,   
  


“Don’t gotta to tell me twice, ya twat, Come on.” The Doctor took one last forbidden stare in admiration of the creature while managing to duck as it threw a piece of crate at him. With Rose already through the door, The Doctor ran out and locked the door behind him with his sonic screwdriver. It probably would not hold the creature for long, but it might give them a head start. A loud wolf howl was then heard echoing throughout the manor that chilled the blood.

The Doctor and Rose were now in the gun-room along with the rest of the household. The male members of staff along with Sir Robert were readying themselves to battle with the creature on the loose. The Steward handing out the contents of the gun cupboard to every available man.

“Arms, and you five. Ready, everyone?” Shouted the Steward and then shouted to Lady Isobel,

“Take the girls. Get them out through the kitchen.” However, Isobel could not leave her husband that she had finally been reunited with after fearing that she would never see him again. Rose could more than understand, but she questioned how much use that a woman raised to be weak, or at least think she was weak, could be in a gun fight. Not to sell her sex short, but she had been of little help in the cellar. She had been content to obey the orders of her captures no matter what.

  
“I can't leave you. What will you do?” Isobel asked of her husband. Sir Robert was also torn by emotion. He wanted to personally protect his wife. But he had already done so much injury to the crown and his honor that he had to devote himself completely to seeing that his monarch came out of this mess alive and well. Even if he did not. He'd committed treason for the sake of his love's safety and no matter what happened, he did not see an outcome where they would be together after this. If he died he died and if he lived...He knew what happened to traitors of the crown and if he could spare his wife half the cruel humility that would be pressed on her by society after he was jailed, shot, or hanged, then he would do it. Star-crossed they were now and he knew what he must do.  
  


“I must defend her Majesty. Now, don't think of me, just go.” Said Sir Robert his wife then kissed him before leaving, certain that she probably would never see him alive again, but trying to put on a brave face. Sir Robert knew his wife trusted him and bravely she led her staff back to the other side of the manor to find a means of escape.  
  


“All of you, at my side. Come on!” Commanded Isobel to her female staff. Well perhaps she could lead after all thought Rose as she watched Isobel take up the job of guiding her female staff to safety.

  
The Doctor, now having brought the dungeon party to relative safety saw in better lighting just how raw Rose’s wrists were looking from being forced into rough metal manacles. Anger at the mistreatment of his wife bubbled up. How could he be so stupid as to let his love and the mother of his child out of his sight for so long? He was a careless idiot diverted by dinner with a famous historical figure. He was angry with the monks and the wolf almost as much as he was angry with himself for once more failing to keep his Rose out of harm's way. 

“My poor Rose.” Mouthed The Doctor as he used his sonic screwdriver to set about removing the shackles immediately. Worried about the rusty things and not knowing if Rose had ever even had a tetanus shot, he immediately soniced the wounds clean and removed any impurities. Rose watched the Doctor work in quiet and tried not to move while he was helping her. The Doctor, then done with his task, preformed one more duty. A duty that although, in textbooks, served no actual medical purpose he had seen ‘work’ before when administered by Rose on his last form. Like Rose had kissed him on his injured head in what seemed like a lifetime ago, he laid a soft kiss on each of her wrists. Willing her to feel better and to express how sorry he was for neglecting her so appallingly. The two made eye contact again, worry on both of their eyes. Wordlessly they communicated that they were alright and only after The Doctor had played his role as doting husband and protective expectant father did he reverse his focus and question his wife.

  
“It could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths. Did it say what it wanted?” Questioned The Doctor of his wife.

  
“The Queen, the Crown, the throne - you name it.” Announced Rose in a panicked voice to her husband as pounding noises were heard from the cellar door down the corridor. The shackles now off of Rose, she rubbed at her wrists more out of nervousness from the terrifying sounds at cellar door. There was then another crash of something bursting through a wooden door and The Doctor very quickly went to investigate. To his great discomfort he was rewarded with a view of the werewolf at the other end of the passageway. That was all the warning he needed as the creature started barreling down the hall. With lightning speed he ran back into the gun-room and grabbed Rose, pulling her behind the line of men with rifles. The Doctor had no idea how effective the guns would be on the werewolf if at all, but he guessed that they would find out. He wasn’t about to personally harm another alien until it proved a direct threat to his family and himself, but that probably would happen soon. He might as a Time Lord have a duty to keep Queen Victoria safe from this beast and preserve time lines, but if it came down to it, he would choose to save Rose. After all Victoria would do the same if she were him and Rose were Albert.  
  


“Fire! Fire!” Shouted the Steward as guns began to blaze in the direction of the Werewolf. Gun smoke masking the room and the results of the shots.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: WEREWOLF! I hope you liked the little flash back. It’s been a while since I had an opportunity to do that. I’m not through with John Smith yet, not by a long shot…or the ninth Doctor. Little spoiler there of the reward waiting for you if you stick around long enough. 
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	12. Were’s the wolf? (and I know its spelt wrong)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen Victoria is a meanie.

**Complications**

**by the-Plot-Thinens**

** Chapter 12 – Were’s the wolf? (and I know its spelt wrong) ** **  
  
  
**

“All right, you men. We should retreat upstairs. Come with me.” Commanded The Doctor as the dust started to clear and the slobbering creature who had been charging them seemed gone. Still The Doctor was not taking any chances with his family and a key historical figure’s safety at risk. Unfortunately for The Doctor precious time to retreat was being wasted by the steward’s reluctance to move his stubborn arse.   
  


“I'll not retreat. The battle's done. There's no creature on God's Earth that could survive such an assault.” Declared the Steward in an arrogant voice.   
  


“I'm telling you, come upstairs!” Shouted The Doctor to the foolish man, ‘God’s Earth’ had nothing to do with this creature that was anything but of this Earth. 

“And I'm telling you, sir, I will sleep well tonight with that thing's hide upon my wall.” Shouted the Steward back. He could not believe the cowardice of this Doctor bloke. 

The gun smoke was all but cleared now and the Steward stalked about into the corridor looking for any signs of a pathetic furry mush of meat bleeding out on the floor. Finding no such evidence on the floor the steward scoffed,

  
  
“It must have crawled away to die.” However, no sooner had the Steward said this was he surprisingly and horrifyingly hoisted up to the ceiling. The man screamed and as he disappeared from sight and only the sounds of snarling and wet meat ripping could be heard. The Doctor shouted to the group, while pulling a shocked Rose along,

  
“There's nothing we can do!” They had to get away. There was nothing The Doctor could do right now in this situation, he needed time to think and that could only be done in a safer place. The Doctor had to fight back a sick feeling of being grateful that the werewolf was distracted at the moment. That distraction was a man being eviscerated along with his remaining armed men in the gun-room, and being grateful for that did not sit well with the Time Lord. Still he had to protect Rose above all else.

The party of runners had finally made it to the base of the Staircase and much to Sir Robert’s relief. Her majesty the Queen was unharmed and climbing down the stairs. The Doctor discretely used his sonic to lock the door hoping that it would buy them a bit more time. Sir Robert called out to his Queen only for her to in a quite business like voice,  
  


“Sir Robert? What's happening? I heard such terrible noises.” Demanded the Queen, having heard all the commotion in the manor.  
  
“Your Majesty, we've got to get out. But what of Father Angelo? Is he still here?” Questioned Sir Robert, knowing that he had left the Queen not unprotected but not in a safe situation. With only one guard to protect her when he ran off with The Doctor to save their wives, Sir Robert was definitely feeling obligated to do his share of protecting the Queen now.

  
“Captain Reynolds disposed of him.” The Queen said flatly and that was the end of that subject.

  
“The front door's no good, it's been boarded shut. Pardon me, Your Majesty. You'll have to leg it out of a window.” Said The Doctor apologizing for the undignified exit that he was suggesting for the Queen to make. With her head held high the Queen help her skirt off the ground and began to walk in the direction The Doctor indicated. The Group then made their way into the drawing room which had large stain glass windows that opened into the courtyard. As they approached the window, Sir Robert, ever ready to please and make up for his treasonous acts stopped the Queen.

“Excuse my manners, Ma'am, but I shall go first, the better to assist Her Majesty's egress.” Suggested Sir Robert. In a very proper and condescending voice, that had Sir Robert sure that if he was not killed tonight, he would be executed by his Queen later,

  
“A noble sentiment, my Sir Walter Raleigh.” The Doctor had no time for banter. He needed to get the Queen and more importantly his pregnant wife out of the building. Forgetting his Scottish accent and slipping back into his London one The Doctor questioned somewhat rudely,  
  


“Yeah, any chance you could hurry up?” If there was one thing that The Doctor liked about humans as they progressed in history was that they moved faster. Victorian humans were certainly not that fast moving at all. Just stand around all day talking with the world blowing up around them. Needing no more encouragement, Robert opened the window and stepped a foot out only to have the rest of the monks, who now it seemed appeared to be outside the manor armed to the teeth, opened fire. Debris from the stone masonry was broken off by the bullets and Sir Robert nearly got his head blown off. A few bits of stone hit Rose in the arm and The Doctor began to really start to worry that there was no way out.

  
“I reckon the monkey boys want us to stay inside.” Noted The Doctor as he saw the orange-ish clad men with their guns. The Queen had also been too close for comfort to those shots and surprised and indignant she asked,  
  


“Do they know who I am?” Oh did they ever know, thought Rose who then piped up to the Queen,

  
“Yeah, that's why they want you. The wolf's lined you up for a... a biting.” The Queen looked at the feral child in disbelief and growing apprehension. She could easily believe superstitions to take over the frail mind of a wild thing like this Rose person, but all the highly educated men around her seemed to believe her too. Was she the only one not crazy in this house?   
  


“Stop this talk. There can't be an actual wolf.” Snapped the Queen only to be taken aback when a deathly howl rang through the building. The unmistakable howl of a wolf. The wolf was getting closer to finding them and now was the time to panic it seemed. Rose was quaking with fear. It was a lot to take in. There was only so much a person could take of being shot at, hunted, and seeing brutal murders before they started to come a bit undone. Then there was the pounding on the door The Doctor had soniced shut and the splinting from the door being broken down.  
  


“What do we do?” Asked Rose of her husband for some sort of assurance, a sign of a plan, something to make her and her baby feel safe. The Doctor had no such protections to offer at the moment and said the only logical thing that they could do. The Doctor was very glad that Rose was not too big yet because now was the time for some heavy foot work.   
  


“We run.” Said The Doctor plainly. Rose was surprised at the simple answers and wanting to make sure that she heard right, she asked if that was it. The Doctor now getting more nervous as hairy footsteps and pounding noises were getting closer yelped back,  
  


“You got any silver bullets?” Rose couldn’t believe the ridiculousness of the question at the moment. Did she have any silver bullets? She lived in a country where for the most part it was illegal to own guns. 

  
“Not on me, no.” Said Rose like she could not believe The Doctor’s question. Having no other options they had to move. The Doctor’s superior senses told him that the creature was very near and if they didn’t hightail it now, then they would never be able to get up the stair in time.

  
“There we are then, we run. Your Majesty, as a Doctor, I recommend a vigorous jog. Good for the health. Come on!” The Time Lord shouted jogging in place before he grabbed Rose and then the Queen by their hands and dragged them up the stairs. A good thing too since the werewolf smashed its way to the bottom of the stairs and started following them. They were just about two flights above when the creature started climbing the stairs, the pounding of its feet and heavy breathing echoing in the stairwell. 

  
“Come on! Come on!” Pleaded The Doctor of his human companions as he could smell and hear the monster catching up. The werewolf was nearly upon them as they approach the corridor to the library when Reynolds turned the corner and shot at the wolfish creature. Not expecting the attack and taking the bullet full in the chest the werewolf retreated for a moment to recover. Reynolds now all business began to reload his revolver.   
  


“I'll take this position and hold it. You keep moving, for God's sake! Your Majesty, I went to look for the property and it was taken. The chest was empty.” Said Reynolds. With her hand over her heart and in a winded voice the Queen informed him that she had it and it was safe. Relieved Reynolds declared,   
  


“Then remove yourself, Ma'am. Doctor, you stand as Her Majesty's Protector. And you, Sir Robert, you're a traitor to the crown.”   
  


“Bullets can't stop it!” Shouted The Doctor in warning, not wanting another person to die while he was around.   
  


“They'll buy you time. Now run!” Ordered the man and not having any other choice, The Doctor and his party ran to barricade themselves in the library and hopefully find a means of escape. Reynolds could be heard emptying his revolver at the werewolf most ineffectually. Rose however had stopped just before the door frozen. She didn’t know what she was waiting for maybe she was waiting for the brave man to come running so they could help him escape as she watched him down the hall shooting at what had to be the wolf. She couldn’t believe that another person was going to die for her sake by default along with the Queen and just had to be sure he was going to be okay. But that was not to be and she witnessed the wolf pouncing on to the poor man as it ripped him apart. The Doctor seeing that Rose was not inside with him but had walked out to the hall ran back for her.  
  


“Rose!” Shouted The Doctor before grabbing her around the middle and dragging her inside the room. The screaming of Reynolds only stopped after The Doctor had shut the heavy wooden doors.   
  


“Barricade the door.” Shouted Sir Robert to which Rose and The Doctor helped him do with great enthusiasm. They piled chairs and benched against the door all the while being quite sure that it would do little good, but what else was there to do. Rose had never thought that it would end this way, she always expected that if she died it would be like she almost had on some space station in the future, not in the past, ripped apart by some barbaric monster. That certainly wasn’t what she wanted for her child or her Doctor, but that might very well be what happened now. The Doctor was having much the same thoughts and was desperate for a moments respite to think of a plan. They then waited in sickening silence for the door to be forced open from the other side, but nothing happened. Things had gone all quiet and they didn’t know what to think.  
  
  


“Wait a minute. Shush, shush, wait a minute.” Whispered The Doctor as they heard one lonely howl.   
  


“It's stopped.” Ever so carefully The Doctor placed his ear to the door and could hear the werewolf sniff at the door, snarl and then pad away on its enormous feet. Letting out a sigh of relief The Doctor turned away from the door and simply stated,   
  


“It's gone.”   
  


“Listen.” Said Rose quietly as they heard footsteps and growls from outside the walls as it walked around the outside of the room. The Queen clutched at her purse and Sir Robert quaked in fear as they listened. Rose gravitated closer to The Doctor. Rose could sense now very clearly that her worried thoughts and the heighten levels of adrenaline in her system were upsetting the baby and she hoped that just being closer to the actual telepath in the family would help calm her down. Rose was scared enough without empathically feeling the fear and apprehension of her own child on top of it. A cold dreadful thought then came to The Doctor’s head and turning to Sir Robert, he whispered,  
  


“Is this the only door?” Robert whispered back a quiet yes only to then pipe up and shout,   
  


“No!” As he remembered that there was yet another unguarded way into the room. Quickly they barricaded the other door hoping that it too would hold. Once more it was a waiting game and everyone, daring not even to breathe, stood in silence listening for the Werewolf.   
  


“Shush.” Cautioned Rose as she stood ramrod, the noise continued but then again there was quiet.   
  


“I don't understand. What's stopping it?” asked Rose, not knowing why now it was being picky about breaking down doors.  
  


“Something inside this room. What is it? Why can't it get in?” Asked The Doctor of the room in frustration as everyone now took the moment to breathe again. Sir Robert sat down and buried his head in his hands. He couldn’t believe what a turn his life had taken. The Queen was contemplating what would have to be done to save her kingdom from such a monster. What Rose needed was to calm down and there was only one way to do it. Now given the moment to breath and thankful to be alive Rose let out a sigh,  
  


“I'll tell you what, though.” The Doctor looked to his wife in concern and asked,  
  


“What?”   
  


“Werewolf.” Said Rose, not believing that such a thing did actually exist. Rose needed to slip back into their adventurous mode as much as The Doctor had. It was their safe zone and stress needed to be flaked off for all three members of the TARDIS family’s sake.   
  


“I know.” Sighed The Doctor in with a little laugh as he hugged his wife. Rose squeezed him as tight as she could before he pulled away and looking her in the eyes, The Doctor asked Rose,

“You all right?” Rose said that she was fine and continued her lighthearted mood. Unfortunately, what was a defense mechanism for The Doctor and Rose was seen by the Queen as a complete disregard for the severity of the situation and it disturbed her greatly. Who were these people who laughed off danger as if it were nothing. It led her to believe that the two went looking for trouble. Her brooding was interrupted however,   
  


“I'm sorry, Ma'am. It's all my fault. I should have sent you away. I tried to suggest something was wrong. I thought you might notice. Did you think there was nothing strange about my household staff?” Said Sir Robert to his Queen. Now when you mentioned it like that, The Doctor supposed that it should have been obvious, but his mind had formed a different conclusion.   
  


“Well, they were bald, athletic. Your wife's away, I just thought you were happy.” Hinted The Doctor in a slightly uncomfortable voice. Perhaps it was being so removed from the time period, the fact that Rose was used to adventures like this or that she desperately needed a distraction, but Rose’s mind went back to her bet.  
  


“I'll tell you what though, Ma'am, I bet you're not amused now.” Said Rose to the Queen after a moment of silence to think over if she really should say anything. Rose decided that lifting the mood could not hurt but Victoria felt the very opposite. The Queen had now formed her conclusion that these were reckless and morally questionable people she found herself associating with. In anger that they clearly did not grasp the severity of the situation and were cracking jokes, barked,   
  


“Do you think this is funny?” Rose realizing that now that she had misspoken quickly answered no and apologized. The Queen just stared at these two people, clearly two of a kind, but the Lord only knew what that was and grasping for something that made sense demanded,  
  


“What, exactly, I pray tell me, someone, please. What exactly is that creature?” Rose wasn’t sure as to what she should say to the Queen and looking to The Doctor for a sign found him very nervously answering as if he had been caught scrumping in the Queen’s orchard,   
  


“You'd call it a werewolf, but technically it's a more of a lupine wavelength haemovariform.” Answered The Doctor now seeing that the Queen was in no mood for anything lighthearted at a time like this. o surprise there, Albert had washed all the fun out of her not long after they married. Hard to believe that she had been once a party socializing patron of the new age arts before she met the prude Albert. Now she was just a cranky, selfish, and suspicious old woman who was dead set on giving the Doctor a piece of her mind.   
  


“And should I trust you, sir? You who change your voice so easily? What happened to your accent?” Demanded the Queen who realized that she knew nothing of these two except that they were bad news, they must be lying, and probably, in part, the reason for all this somehow. The Doctor now realizing, in surprise, that he had dropped his Scottish accent replied,   
  


“Oh right, sorry, that's…” However he was quickly cowed and interrupted by the Queen.  
  


“I'll not have it. No, sir. Not you, not that thing, none of it. This is not my world.” Hissed the Queen rejecting the reality in front of her.

Tough break thought Rose, the world is the way it is whether we like it to be or not. The Queen like so many other people The Doctor encountered was unwilling or in denial that all was not as it seemed. But unlike others, Victoria thought that she had the power and authority to will it so. Feeling very much like children who had been told off by Nan, The Doctor and Rose looked about the room for anything that could help them. It was of little consequence to The Doctor if the Queen hated him forever as long as he could get everyone out of here. His superior eyes then noticed a curious carving on the door that the Wolf had failed to crash through.

**“** Mistletoe. Sir Robert, did you father put that there?” The Doctor inquired of Sir Robert on the design carved into the wood.   
  


“I don't know. I suppose.” Answered the man not seeing why that was so important right now. This was very curious to The Doctor as he looked across the room to the other door.  
  


“On the other door, too. No, a carving wouldn't be enough. I wonder.” Pondered The Doctor as he went up to the door next to him and licked the woodwork. Rose raised her eyebrow in confusion. Why was The Doctor licking the door? That was when The Doctor’s eyes lit up and he went into full manic mode, cheering,   
  


“Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe. It's been worked into the wood like a varnish. How clever was your dad? I love him. Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins.” Rose was now very perplexed and not believing that she was coming to this conclusion asked,   
  


“And the wolf's allergic to it?” The Doctor then grinned,   
  


“Well, it thinks it is. The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things.” This was all very interesting information but Sir Robert had no patience for this madman’s ramblings. He was no closer to protecting the Queen and hissed,  
  


“Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon.” The Doctor couldn’t believe how unlike his father Sir Robert was and quite bluntly retorted,  
  


“Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?” To which Rose grumbled back with a smile,  
  


“Being rude again.” The Doctor however was not sorry for that last comment, it was true.  
  


“Good. I meant that one. You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have.” He then threw some books to Rose, who caught them before saying to the room,   
  


“Arm yourself.” The Doctor then placed black rimmed glasses over his eyes and Rose’s breath was caught. She had never seen him in those before. The Doctor had not worn glasses since he was John. He had looked good then and boy did he look good now. She might have kissed him right there if they weren’t already in hot water with death waiting outside. If they lived through this she might ask him to wear those sexy specs for her own pleasure later.

Frantically The Doctor, Rose and Sir Robert began looking through Sir Robert’s late father’s library. There had to be something among all these books that could tell them what they could do to defeat the fearsome monster roaming about the building.

**“** Biology, zoology. There might be something on wolves in here.” Declared Rose as she scanned over the books titles. The Doctor appreciated Rose’s efforts, but that had to be too obvious a place to look for their solution.  
  


“Hold on, what about this? A book on mistletoe.” Noted the Doctor as he looked at some the books higher up on shelf. Rose then found a book on magic but that wasn’t going to help while Sir Robert found among a book some form of explosive and suggested it to The Doctor. The Doctor however, found what he was looking for and showed Rose his findings.  
  


“Wolf's bane, what about that?” Asked Rose as she began to look over another book. The Doctor then placed the book he was reading down on the table and announced,  
  


“Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth.” Rose could clearly see a woodcut image of what looked like a shooting star, falling to Earth in a valley among some buildings in the countryside, but could as easily be,   
  


“A spaceship?” asked Rose of The Doctor.   
  


“A shooting star.” Corrected Sir Robert as he read,

“In the year of our Lord 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit. That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the monastery.”   
  


“But that's over three hundred years ago. What's it been waiting for?” Asked Rose, not seeing why they were so lucky to be experiencing the terror they were now, when the suspicious event happened then.   
  


“Maybe just a single cell survived. Adapting slowly down the generations, it survived through the humans, host after host after host.” Suggested The Doctor as to why the delay in appearance of the creature until now.   
  


“But why does it want the throne?” Asked Sir Robert if it was content to survive host after host for 300 years.   
  


“That's what it wants. It said so. The, the Empire of the Wolf.” Explained Rose, clearly it had been just waiting for the right time when it was strong and could strike.   
  


“Imagine it. The Victorian Age accelerated. Starships and missiles fueled by coal and driven by steam, leaving history devastated in its wake.” Said The Doctor in a horrified and hushed tone. Now finally understanding what the creature wanted thanks to these appropriately named lunatics, Victoria shout up from her leather seat and stated,   
  


“Sir Robert. If I am to die here….” But she was interrupted by Sir Robert, who insisted,   
  


“Don't say that, Your Majesty.” Victoria would have none of it. Her first duty was to the safety of her Kingdom and if she stood in the way of that well then fine, but there was something else more important than her that needed to be taken care of before she died.   
  


“I would destroy myself rather than let that creature infect me. But that's no matter. I ask only that you find some place of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself.” Announced the Queen. Barely looking up from his book, and yet again rudely, The Doctor stated,  
  


“Hardly the time to worry about your valuables.” The Queen outraged, but not breaking her cool, clipped back,  
  


“Thank you for your opinion, but there is nothing more valuable than this.” The Queen then removed a white 105.6 carat diamond from her purse. The room was gob smacked by the size of the thing. The Queen was quite satisfied by leaving the two rude characters speechless.  
  


“Is that the Koh-I-Noor?” Asked Rose in disbelief as she approached the shiny object in the Queen’s hand with The Doctor right behind her.   
  


“Oh, yes. The greatest diamond in the world.” The Doctor said plainly him and Rose not being able to take their eyes off the famous object.   
  


“Given to me as the spoils of war. Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die.” Said the Queen dramatically, to which The Doctor condescended to say under his breath,   
  


“Well, that's true of anything if you own it long enough. Can I?” He then put his hand out in permission to look at the diamond. Reluctantly the Queen handed it over and The Doctor and Rose took a good close look at it. The Doctor pushed down his glasses, not believing how perfect the diamond was.  
  


“That is so beautiful.” Remarked The Doctor as the diamond caught what little light was in the room.   
  


“How much is that worth?” Asked Rose. She needed, upon looking at such a treasure, to quantify it in a way that she could grasp.   
  


“They say the wages of the entire planet… for a whole week.” Smirked The Doctor to his wife. Rose then grinned,   
  


“Good job my mum's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing.”   
  


“And she'd win.” Said The Doctor as if it were fact. The bubble of calm and wonder that The Doctor and Rose had put up around them was then popped by Sir Robert inquiring,  
  


“Where is the wolf? I don't trust this silence.” However The Doctor and Rose were still too amazed by the coincidence of getting to see all of the stereotypes associated with Queen Victoria in one trip.  
  


“Why do you travel with it?” The Doctor questioned the Queen.   
  


“My annual pilgrimage. I'm taking it to Helier and Carew, the Royal Jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting.” Explained the Queen. Rose could not believe that such a perfect stone could use anymore work and said as much,   
  


“Oh, but it's perfect.” If Rose had a diamond like that, the last thing she would see is an imperfection in it, she guessed that that was the privilege of being rich and powerful. Being able to see flaws where there were none.  
  


“My late husband never thought so.” Declared the Queen with a smile. Victoria even after his death, was trying to do everything she could that she thought might please her dead husband.   
  


“Now, there's a fact. Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Noor cut down. It used to be forty percent bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting.” Said The Doctor as he once more looked at the shiny stone.   
  


“He always said the shine was not quite right. But he died with it still unfinished.” The Queen said mournfully. And that was when The Doctor got the connection.   
  


“Unfinished. Oh, yes.” Whispered The Doctor who then threw the stone back to Victoria. She was surprised by it being just tossed to her but said nothing. How could he be so bone dead stupid?, thought The Doctor as he ran his hand through this hair, pulling at it as his big Time Lord mind worked. Full of energy, the ancient alien shouted,   
  


“There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research, and your husband, Ma'am, he came here and he sought the perfect diamond. Hold on, hold on. All these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected. Oh, my head, my head. What if this house, it's a trap for you. Is that right, Ma'am?”   
  


“Obviously.” Said the Queen plainly, waiting patiently for the crazed Doctor to get to his point.   
  


“At least, that's what the wolf intended. But, what if there's a trap inside the trap?” Questioned the Doctor. Still not getting the point the Queen clipped back,   
  


“Explain yourself, Doctor.”   
  


“What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories. They dared to imagine all this was true, and they planned against it, laying the real trap not for you but for the wolf.” Rasped The Doctor as suddenly plaster dust began to fall from the ceiling. With a sicken feeling all in the room looked up to see a domed skylight and there looking down upon them was the wolf.   
  


“That wolf there.” Said The Doctor softly as the glass began to crack beneath the heavy creature. Realizing that their safe hiding place had been compromise The Doctor shouted for everyone to leave the room. The wolf then crashed through the window to the floor and everyone moved frantically to pull down the barricade. Then rushing from the room, The Doctor shut the mistletoe doors on the werewolf. Sir Robert grabbed onto the Queen and The Doctor shouted for them all to get to the observatory. However, in his one tracked minded frenzy to stop the wolf The Doctor realized too late that he had left Rose trailing behind. The werewolf had caught up with Rose and The Doctor turned around fast enough just to see her scream as the wolf raised his arm to slash her to pieces. The Doctor’s hearts dropped to the center of the Earth as he realized that there was no way for him to get to her in time. She was going to die and he had failed Rose. He had also failed his child too and his punishment for that and his past crimes was to watch the woman he loved die horribly. Rose screamed again but then a pan of hot liquid was thrown over the wolf, which then retreated from the attack.   
  


“Good shot.” Shouted The Doctor in relief. Surely hot water couldn’t have done all that where bullets had failed. 

“It was mistletoe.” said Flora to the confused group as she was followed by her female staff. The Doctor then went to his wife and placed his hands on her face looking her over for any injury. She and the baby were fine and he kissed her on the head joyfully, before poking his head down the hallway to see after the wolf that was indeed retreating for the moment. They could not waste their extra time that they had been given to see if Sir Robert's father and Albert’s research and planning had really paid off. Robert and Isobel together again exchanged desperate kisses, they'd been given at least one more chance for goodbyes and they drank each other's kisses like they were dying of thirst. Flora placed her arms around him, but then Robert told his wife to get back downstairs. She could not think to deny him a request again, if it would please him, so this time she did not fight it but told her husband to keep himself safe. Rose was in debt to the woman that she had tossed off as probably not able to help in the situation, but clearly she had been proven wrong. Women did not survive this long by being weak, if anything with so many restraints against them in this time period, they would have to be tougher than they looked. She would never underestimate someone for their looks or time period again.  
  


“Now go.” Implored Sir Robert as Isobel took charge of her group and led them back to safety.   
  


“Girls, come with me. Down the back stairs, back to the kitchens. Quickly!” She commanded. Silently Rose wished the women good luck, as The Doctor, this time with his hand firmly in Rose’s , pulled his wife on to the observatory, all the while encouraging everyone to move.   
  


“The observatory's this way.” Shouted Sir Robert as they all carried on up the stair with the now recovered werewolf gaining on them.  
  


“No mistletoe in these doors because your father wanted the wolf to get inside. I just need time. Is there any way of barricading this?” Asked The Doctor of Sir Robert, who simply stated,   
  


“Just do your work and I'll defend it.” Noble sentiments but The Doctor did not need someone else dying and he suggested,  
  


“If we could bind them shut with rope or something.”   
  


“I said I'd find you time, Sir. Now get inside.” Said Sir Robert grimly with his mind made up. The Queen was not unmoved by his volunteering to sacrifice himself for her. Especially after witnessing the love her was sacrificing by doing so. She could almost excuse his treason for that, but she was not in the habit of encouraging treason in her subjects. The Doctor too could see that there was no other choice and stated,   
  


“Good man.” Rose stared at Sir Robert, yet another person was throwing themselves literally to the wolves for them, the guilt was building up, even if they had never asked to come here in the first place. The Doors closed, The Doctor quickly went to work, and he asked the Queen to hand over her diamond. Defensively she asked in response,

**“** For what purpose?” The Doctor couldn’t believe that the Queen was still being stubborn about protecting the diamond now. They’d be dead in few moments what did it matter where it was in the room that they all died in?  
  


“The purpose it was designed for.” Implored The Doctor as he held out his hand and the queen finally handed it over. The Doctor called Rose to his side and she followed him over to the giant cog they had seen earlier that controlled the raising of the telescope.   
  


“Lift it. Come on. Exercise is good for a pregnant woman.” Groaned The Doctor as he pulled the stubborn control wheel backward. Rose seeing the direction he wanted it pulled, began to push it to help him. It was not easy going and through a grimace Rose snarked,  
  


“Is this the right time for stargazing, dear?” The Doctor in just as pained a voice said that it was.   
  


Through the door the final words of Sir Robert were heard by the Queen,

“I committed treason for you, but now my wife will remember me with honor!” Shouted Sir Robert to the Werewolf and it was a very short fight. His dying screams were heard and Victoria held up her jet cross and prayed for the dead man’s soul. They almost had the telescope raised to where The Doctor wanted it, problem was Rose didn’t know that yet.

“You said this thing doesn't work.” Shouted Rose, not understanding what a broken telescope would do for them.

  
“It doesn't work as a telescope because that's not what it is. It's a light chamber. It magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just got to power it up.” Explained The Doctor as he continued to pull.   
  


“It won't work. There's no electricity.” Shouted Rose not getting it. Very irritated The Doctor gestured with his head to the full moon overhead. Rose now understood what The Doctor wanted to power it up with but that still didn’t make sense.

“Moonlight. But the wolf needs moonlight. It's made by moonlight.” Declared Rose as she continued to push.   
  


“Mrs. Smith, You're seventy percent water but you can still drown. Come on! Come on!” Shouted The Doctor as he pulled at the giant cog with all his might. The Wolf now done with Sir Robert was pounding away at the wooden doors as the moon finally shined down into the telescope lens and bounced between the prisms, magnifying as it went. The moon light concentrated on the ground but that was not where it was needed now. The werewolf broke in and without delay went for Queen Victoria. Seeing his chance The Doctor slid the diamond over to where the light hit the floor. It refracted upwards, catching the werewolf in its beam and lifting it up off the floor. The Queen appeared to be safe. Bathed in moonlight the wolf turned back into a young man, hanging in mid air.   
  


“Make it brighter. Let me go.” Begged the man softly, wishing his torment as a puppet of the wolf to be over. Victoria was struck with pity for the poor man as The Doctor granted the man his wish and adjusted the magnification on the eyepiece. The man then turned back into a wolf, howled and vanished. Rose let out a sigh of relief, the nightmare was over. All seemed to be settled now, but Victoria was looking at a small scratch on her wrist. This did not go unnoticed by The Doctor, who cautiously asked,   
  


“Your Majesty? Did it bite you?”   
  


“No, it's, it's a cut, that's all.” Said the Queen dismissively.  
  


“If that thing bit you…” Warned The Doctor, but was interrupted by the Queen,   
  


“It was a splinter of wood when the door came apart. It's nothing.”

“Let me see.” Insisted The Doctor. Quickly hiding her wrist from view as a child might who was caught with something they should not have declared,   
  


“It is nothing.” The Doctor was not convinced but what else could he do? He could not force her.

A lot had happened during the night. The remaining soldiers had been found unharmed but restrained in the manor. The monks realizing that their means of power was gone had dispersed and had easily been hunted down by the soldiers with the now late Sir Robert’s arsenal. After that the grim task of cleaning and preparing the wolf’s victims was done. Poor Lady Isobel had been devastated that despite her efforts that her husband had been killed, but at least he had died honorably defending the Queen. That he died nobly was a small comfort, she would have rather kept her husband. Therefore it was not unexpected when in the drawing room that morning, she was found with the Queen dressed in the same black of mourning. Rose had wanted to comfort the woman, but she hardly knew her and somehow a woman with a husband comforting a woman without one seemed ill appropriate. She would leave that to the Queen.

What had surprised the Doctor and Rose was the Queen’s gratitude. She had not seemed to like either of them during the chase with the wolf but here she was offering them knighthoods. Who were they to complain? In the presence of the whole household, The Doctor and Rose kneeled before Queen Victoria, who armed with a sword in her bandaged hand announced that the two were to be knighted. Rose tried not to be too nervous with an old woman with an injured hand holding a sword over her head.   
  


“By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Sir Doctor of Tardis. By the power invested in me by the Church and the State, I dub thee Dame Rose of the Powell Estate. You may stand.” Said the Queen with all pomp and circumstance.  
  


“Many thanks, Ma'am.” Smiled The Doctor, though this was not his first knighting, but it was always nice.   
  


“Thanks. They're never going to believe this back home.” Said Rose to the Queen a bit star struck by all that was happening. She a simple girl from the Powell Estate who was now knighted and she was pretty sure would be the only Dame that would ever have lived there. Perhaps she should have given the name of where she had lived with John or even the TARDIS since it was now her home, but she wanted her mother to have something to be proud of, even if it was in secret. Looked like she finally got the Knighthood that her mother thought that she deserved though a bit earlier than expected. The Doctor was very pleased Sir Robert’s father and Albert’s plan had worked. He would not have been able to save anyone without their efforts. Wanting to give some words of comfort to the Queen very politely, for a change, he said,

“Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving no message from the great beyond. I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, Ma'am, from beyond the grave.   
  


“Indeed. Then you may think on this also. That I am not amused.” Announced the Queen in a voice seriously displeased.   
  


“Yes!” Cheered Rose having won the ten quid bet, and The Doctor then frowned in slight disappointment that he lost, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t snog her on the jumpseat. He then grinned for Rose’s success as he was going to make it his gain…well minus the ten quid.   
  


“Not remotely amused. And henceforth I banish you.” Declared the Queen in a stern and angry voice. The rest of the people in the room, especially Flora, also seemed surprised by the sudden change, but said nothing. It was not there place even if they did owe their salvation in part to this odd couple.  
  


“I'm sorry?” Asked The Doctor, confused by the sudden change in the circumstances. Rose looked equally taken a back and stopped grinning along with The Doctor.   
  


“I rewarded you, Sir Doctor, and now you are both exiled from this empire, never to return. As well as that frog you are carrying, Dame Rose. God have mercy on such an ill-fated thing. I don't know what you are, the two of you, or where you're from, but I know that you consort with stars and magic and think it fun. But your world is steeped in terror and blasphemy and death, and I will not allow it. You will leave these shores and you will reflect, I hope, on how you came to stray so far from all that is good, and how much longer you, or your godforsaken offspring will survive this terrible life. Now leave my world, and never return.” The Queen said condemning them with all of what she viewed was moral authority. 

Victoria would not have these two continue in this manner if it was in her power to do so. It was bad enough that they were liars, but to live happily in such a manner would not do and she would not stomach such a couple within ten paces of her empire. Though who knew, maybe she really saw them a threat to her Kingdom. Perhaps she just wanted them gone as they knew a secret about her and that wound on her hand. Or maybe it was the fact that she could hardly stand to see anyone happy in marriage now that she was so miserable without her Albert was clouding her judgment too. She could barely stand watching her own daughter get married, gaining a husband while she the Queen of the most powerful Empire on Earth had been denied hers. Whatever the reason for banishment it mattered not just so long as it ended in her never having to see those two again and all of their plans of blasphemy leading to nothing but ruin.

What a reward, a title that mattered not, outside of her Empire and a banishment for saving her life. The Doctor thought her ungrateful but it wasn’t as if he had not been banished before. Sure at this point in time being banished from the British empire might seem like a big deal, but there was no way to enforce such a symbolic decree on two people when they had a TARDIS at their disposal. And the empire wouldn’t stay big forever. It would be chipped away by revolution and reform as more and more pushed against the Empire system. Years later her very same family would welcome him with open arms. If she knew how much good he had done for her and humanity, and would continue to do, then he doubted she would try to make an enemy of him. Still he was above that and she was just not evolved enough to understand. Well he reasoned that it was only ‘her world’ for as long as she was alive, which for a time traveler, wasn’t long at all. And he supposed that with the empire about as big as it was going to get she truly did think it her world, but how sad to think that you could or had to own the world. The Doctor and Rose then left the house standing tall arm in arm through the back door.

“Well I’ve never been banished before, Sir Doctor.” Said Rose a bit beside herself as the two bounced along the highlands in the back of a cart they had hitched a ride with. They were being taken away from Torchwood Manor, in ‘all style’ it seemed after having single handedly saved the Queen from her own subjects and an empire hungry werewolf alien. Rose was very happy that The Doctor had gotten them the ride because it sure beat walking after all they had been through that night. Rose was tired as an understatement. 

“I have, Dame Rose. You get used to it after the ten or twelfth time.” He saw a bit of worry on Rose’s face as she rubbed her stomach, and reflected on the cruel things the Queen had said about her child.

“Don’t worry your head about it, Rose. I’ll have you know that I’m friends with mostly all of her descendants to the Throne. Victoria always was a bit of a party pooper. And don’t take what she said about our little girl to heart, she never liked any babies. She liked making them but not the aftermath. The woman wouldn’t even so much as touch her babes until they were older. She thought that babies looked like nasty little frogs or something like that. Not exactly the ideal Mum either.”

“How do you mean?” Asked Rose feeling a little better that at least The Doctor didn’t think it something to take personally.

“Oh for example, she thought breastfeeding so vile an act that as soon as she found out that her daughter was doing it for her own child, the Queen named a Dairy cow after her daughter. Rest of her children spent most of their lives just trying to get away from her and out from under her thumb.”

“Talk about a dysfunctional family.” Scoffed Rose. Sure, she and her Mum had fought like cats and dogs. She had even run away from home as a youth, but despite all that they loved each other. Jackie had taken her back, the prodigal daughter, with open arms. And always went on about what a sweet baby she was and how much she loved to cuddle with her when she was a tiny baby. And Mum certainly never complained about her food supply being all but free when she was an infant except for a few bottles of formula now and then.

“Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter who you are, any family can be dysfunctional or have its problems. Though to be fair to her majesty, she did have a rough up bringing too. Not that I’m making excuses for her, mind you.” Said The Doctor. Rose took in a deep breath and asked,

“Are we dysfunctional, I mean we don’t exactly lead a normal life… and things get rocky sometimes…dangerous too. And my Mum is mad at you a lot. I don’t want to scar our child if…” The Doctor placed his finger gently on Rose’s lips and replied,

“Rose, let me correct myself. Every family has its problems. It’s just when there are more problems than love, caring, and understanding that there is something very wrong. And normal is very relative, I mean, Time Lord families in comparison to human families, normal is a very… Never mind, we aren’t conventional by either cultures standards, but we are all but starting a new normal, so it can be whatever we want it. Things are no more dangerous than any other family that travels for a living. And the point being is a family is healthy when the love isn’t toxic.”

“Well, I don’t think our love is toxic…maybe a bit intoxicating, yeah?” Smirked Rose as she placed her hand on The Doctor’s thigh only to be interrupted by the cart man shouting,

“Whoa!” to the horse pulling the cart he was steering and that they were riding on back to the TARDIS. 

‘Well, no roll in the hay for us.’ Smirked Rose to herself, not that it was easily accessed from where they were sitting in the cart. The Doctor and Rose than got off the back of the cart and walked on towards the Blue Box sitting lonely in the middle of nowhere. 

  
“Cheers, Dougal!” Smiled The Doctor to the man steering the cart, who said,

  
“Walk on.” The TARDIS was in sight and The Doctor let out a sigh of relief at seeing it. He had it with this era for now and at least no more blood had to be spilled in the process of kicking them out of this time period. Blood, The Doctor just realized that he might have solved a historical mystery! Which he quickly relayed to his wife.

  
“No, but the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood. It's historical record. She was hemophiliac. They used to call it the Royal Disease. But it's always been a mystery because she didn't inherit it. Her mum didn't have it, her dad didn't have it. It came from nowhere.” He mused.

  
“What, and you're saying that's a wolf bite?” Asked Rose, seeing where The Doctor was getting at.

  
“Well, maybe hemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism.” Grinned The Doctor.

  
“For werewolf?” Asked Rose again in disbelief. That was quite a secret to keep from The Doctor who claimed to be friends with so many members of the Royal family throughout history.

  
“Could be.” Said The Doctor matter-of-factly.

  
“Queen Victoria's a werewolf?” Asked Rose for confirmation as she tugged on The Doctor’s sleeve, sure she was being had and needing to see his face for any signs of a joke. Such a disappointment that they went through all the trouble and the Werewolf still succeeded in a way.   
  


“Could be. And her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe she gave them a quick nip.” Giggled the Doctor.   
  


“So, the Royal Family are werewolves?” Inquired Rose of her so knowledgeable husband.   
  


“Well, maybe not yet. I mean, a single wolf cell could take a hundred years to mature. Might be ready by, oh, early 21st century?” Grinned The Doctor. This was impossible. Rose had grown up hearing about the Royal family her whole life. As private as they were, they couldn’t be that private, could they?  
  


“Nah, that's just ridiculous! Mind you, Princess Anne.” Smirked Rose.  
  


“I'll say no more.” Grimaced The Doctor. Rose was thinking that the privacy idea could have merit.   
  


“And if you think about it, they're very private. They plan everything in advance. They could schedule themselves around the moon. We'd never know. And they like hunting!” Laughed Rose with the feeling that came with being on the inside of a secret only could. Finally reaching the TARDIS The Doctor opened the door with his key and the two marched inside the blue box. 

  
  
“They love blood sports. Oh my God, they're werewolves!” Screamed Rose in delight as the most likely truth dawned on her. The two then began howling like wolves and laughing as The Doctor started the dematerialization process for the TARDIS. 

Once they were safely in the time vortex, something in the air changed it seemed. The Doctor looked over at Rose, who he had come so close to losing to an alien monster. His child had been at risk too. Rose was having thoughts of a similar line as it finally crashed on her how close they had been to dying again. Rose sat down on the jumpseat, decompressing the whole frightful event in her head. The Doctor watched a shaking Rose trying to calm herself, as a fierce protectiveness flared up inside of him, coupled with a possessive desire to hold her. He never meant to bring her into dangerous situations, they just happened every now and again. He would try harder to avoid them from now on if it could be helped. He felt almost as if he did not do this now, then he would never get another chance again. Rose looked up at The Doctor from hearing the sound of his big coat hitting the floor only to see The Doctor practically on top of her. Confused she looked into his eyes dark with desire and he whispered in a husky voice,

“You won our little bet. It seems to me that I now owe you a few things, but I’ve got something for you in mind that is worth a lot more than 10 quid.” He then encircled Rose in his arms and kissed her deeply before picking her up and carrying her off to a more comfortable place than the jumpseat. Spirits in the TARDIS were raising and Rose was feeling a lot less tired. But little could the good Doctor and his family know that on that day in time, deliberate steps were being taken to shatter his family by a Monarch scared of a world that she now knew was bigger than she thought and didn’t want to accept it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna mess with you now, sorry.


	13. School Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose Investigate a mystery at a school and The Doctor runs into an old friend.

Complications

By The-Plot-Thinens

Chapter 13- School Reunion

  
“Wow.” Exhaled Rose as she stared at the ceiling of their room dumbfounded as her skin started cooling down. Rose’s head was airy and overwhelmed after what had just happened. That was an experience to say the least. She still couldn’t believe it even as she lay there with only a blanket hiding half her body from the world. She had been waiting almost a year to get to do this again and the feeling of finally being satisfied was euphoric. You could have sold tickets for a performance like that. She had been so worried that they might not be able to have the same magic between them again now that things had changed so much. The two bodies that her husband had inhabited were so different from each other that that alone had taken some getting used to. Fortunately The Doctor had been so sweet and encouraging that the awkwardness had fleeted shortly after. 

Rose thought back to her first time with John on her wedding night. That had been something magically she would never forget, but this was completely another thing. John had been nervous and worried that he would not meet up to her expectations because he was older and not as experienced as he would have like to have been. John had of course had nothing to worry about since having waited until their wedding night to engage in the carnal pleasures with John had made Rose as eager as a starving animal finally finding food. If anything she had taken him pleasurably off guard with her wolfish fervor. 

The Doctor on the other hand had not been nervous over how his age and appearance would look in her eyes. On the contrary it had been her turn to think that, but The Doctor had shown no signs of caring about how her stomach looked or how young and inexperienced that her now twenty one years was in comparison to his 900 years. Quite the opposite, he had been too busy worshipping her like some kind of goddess of fertility and the whole experience had been quite heady. A respiratory bypass was certainly useful in a lover too, Rose had discovered since his change as well. He had cuddled, pet, and lavished where need be. But that was all just the appetizer to what he had intimately provided her in places she felt he might never touch again. She guessed that nearly dying at the hands of a blood thirsty werewolf was enough to get any man, alien, or otherwise in the mood to celebrate life physically with their mate. 

Rose, still a bit out of breath and bonelessly satisfied from their activities a moment ago, felt the bed shift as The Doctor laid kisses on her bare neck and purred,

“So how was it?” Rose looked at him her face still flush red and stated simply,

“Different.” Perhaps Rose had been wrong, because now The Doctor was looking very unsure of himself. She guessed that now that his best performance was over, he was nervously waiting for the reviews. The Doctor looked a bit cautious and asked,

“Good different or bad different?” He was so afraid of disappointing Rose. He remembered all that she liked and how they had been together as John, but that was a human man. Surely he could do better than a human man? He was, after all, physically superior to a human male in every way. But this was Rose and he knew from experience not to assume or take for granted anything when it came to making Rose happy. He had loused up in the past by assuming he knew what she was thinking or wanted. And he’d probably do it again sometime in the future if he wasn’t careful.

“Just different.” Said Rose nothing really behind her words. She was just happy. For almost a year she thought that something like this would never happen between them again. When he had changed, she had even less hope for it, but here they were in bed properly ‘together’ again despite all odds. 

“Well you appeared to have at least enjoyed yourself.” He smiled and Rose smiled back.

“It’s just that this all isn’t…I never would have thought that something like this would or could…Oh just hold me.” The Doctor understood her lingering confusion and did not hold it against her. Physically he was very different so obviously it was like making love to a different man. Sleeping with another partner after having lost your first partner was hard enough on humans. This just added a whole suitcase of odd to the situation. She wasn’t like a Time Lord who just knew who a person was by their brainwaves. He had to do a little convincing, but she was amiable to convincing. Love making convincing was fun. He wrapped his arms around her, took her hand and placed it between his hearts.

“It’s still me in here, and I still feel the same way about you as I did when I had another face. Nothing is going to change that. I just got a little taller and a little thinner is all.”

“And hairier…” She smirked as she was now settling down to sleep. She was tired from their activities and her body was demanding sleep for not just herself.

“Oi, I hope you mean my great looking hair. As you might have noticed, the packaging is different but I know all the same tricks and some new ones.” 

“It was a little tricky at first. I wasn’t pregnant last time I did this, had a bit of a learning curve to catch up on.” Smiled Rose sleepily as The Doctor laid a loving hand over his child in Rose’s womb.

“Oh I liked relearning your curves. I think that you caught on very quickly and the little one didn’t seem to mind the boat rocking a bit.” Grinned The Doctor. Rose than paled and turned red. Awake again, her head shot up and she looked The Doctor worriedly in the eyes.

“Oh my God! I forgot. The baby, she reads our thoughts. Did she..?” Rose started covering her face in embarrassment at the thought of what she must have exposed her child to. It was bad enough walking in on your parents without being literally in the middle of the situation. ‘What kind of mother was she?’ thought Rose. The Doctor just chuckled and said,

“Oh don’t worry. She didn’t sense a thing of what Mummy and Daddy were up to. She’s too young to learn about that yet, I think. I just blocked off our usual thoughts from her and replaced them with loving and comforting ones. Sort of like hiding any inappropriate and noisy thoughts behind a sound proof door and only leaving some soft music playing in its place.” Rose than couldn’t help but think down the road in a few years, she might have to explain the birds and the bees to her daughter and the thought mortified her. She remembered the conversation with her mother over that being awkward enough and one day it would be her turn. The Doctor getting an idea of what Rose’s mind was distressing over simply started stroking her head.

“Relax, tomorrow will take care of itself, Rose.” Hummed The Doctor to Rose. The two then slipped in to a relaxing sleep.

The Doctor was enjoying himself quite a bit. Quite a bit. The past few days had been spent in wedded bliss and talks of places to take the baby when she was old enough. The only thing to ever disturb the relaxed atmosphere was the occasional morning sickness. Which was why when Rose and The Doctor were interrupted by Rose’s phone going off, he was in a bad mood.

“Don’t answer it.” Pleaded The Doctor as he tried to distract Rose by fondling her in a certain place she liked causing her to keen out a satisfied sigh. Rose however was only momentarily distracted as she rolled over carefully to her side and picked up the phone.

“Might be important. Could be Mum.” Reasoned Rose. The Doctor got her all to himself and Rose could not stomach ignoring her mother on the times she called. Plus Rose enjoyed telling her mother how the baby was getting on. ‘What a time to get a call from Jackie,’ thought The Doctor, who felt cheated out of cuddles, and fondles, with the mother of his child. He certainly did not want to think about Jackie right now when Rose gave him much more pleasurable thought. So he was in an even worse mood when Rose said into the phone,

“Yeah, Hi Mickey.” The Doctor groaned. Didn’t Mickey the idiot realize that he lost the wooing match by now? The Doctor had wooed and won. Well, John Smith originally, but that was still sort of him. Anyway he had won Rose over again in this new body. Yes, he possessed superior wooing skills, no one could woo as he wooed. He also was confident that he could please Rose better than Mickey in any form...Not that he was jealous of Rose giving attention to Mickey....No, it was just timing and to a time traveler was everything. Interrupting a Time Lord and his wife before they could start round seven that day was bad timing on Mickey's part. Anyway, he knew that Rose and Mickey were still friends, but he didn’t want Rose focusing on another man right now at this moment in bed. He wanted to get back to him giving all his attention to Rose and vice versa. He had not yet made her scream his name enough times today while between her legs for them to possibly even think about leaving the room for anything but a late brunch at the cafe of her choice on the planet of her choice. 

The Doctor watched with hopeful eyes that Rose would hang up the phone after a short but polite conversation, and then they could get back to their activities that they were making up lost time for. But the look on Rose’s face told him that he would have to put his clothes back on pretty soon. Rose than hung up the phone, started looking for clothes, and stated,

“Mickey’s got a job for us.”

Inside a physics laboratory children in clean uniforms were piling into their seats for yet another day in class of lessons that most of them probably wouldn’t use after graduation anyway. Although, the subject appeared to be getting a bit easier to follow lately. A lack of a challenge made the class even duller for some. The only thing to interest most of the pupils was the fact that they were getting a new physics teacher in today. Their old one had surprisingly quit their job and now they would be taught by whatever teacher that the school had managed to get last minute. Perhaps this new teacher could put an interesting swing on the subject. Suddenly a handsome, though eccentric looking man wearing a brown pinstripe suit, black rim glasses, carrying a leather bag, walked into the classroom. He was obviously older than in his 20s though his spiked up hair gave him a younger look. Many of the pupils thought him very cute and several innocent crushes where formed on the spot. Sitting themselves down for what would hopefully prove to be at least one interesting lesson, the pupils listened as the man spoke.

“Good morning, class. Are we sitting comfortably?” He smiled to which all the pupils nodded the affirmative. 

The Doctor looked around the room satisfied with the human children he saw and rather loving the idea that he would be getting to teach them. The Doctor did always fancy himself a teacher and had no trouble slipping into the role. The Doctor looked at his lecturer’s desk and then to the dry erase board and grabbed a marker for it.

‘Oh a dry erase board, always fancy the use of one _._ It’s so _quaint_ _._ Well technically I’ve used one, a lot, a while before. Actually dry erase marks, kinda remind me of Rose. ’ Grinned The Doctor to himself as he reflected back fondly on dry erase markers and how their purchase had been utilized as an excuse to see Rose on several occasions when he was human. Anyway, The Doctor realized that he was just standing there staring at a marker, which was weird. Giving it a go, he dutifully wrote the word ‘physics,’ just so it was official that that’s the subject he would be teaching while he was at the school.

  
“So, physics. Physics, eh? Physics. Physics. Physics! Physics. Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics. I hope one of you is getting all this down.” The Doctor chanted to his class as they stared at the odd man that was their new physics teacher. Most of them were pretty sure that he was joking about writing down all of what he said but a few anxious students started quickly scribbling down what he said verbatim. Realizing that he might be losing his pupils The Doctor got down to business and asked the room,

“Okay let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?” As simple and basic physics question that would easily help The Doctor gauge the room. Most of the kids seem uninclined to volenteer an answer. Shame, he remembered that when he was a pupil at the Academy he'd been a bit more excited about subjects like this at a similar stage in his Time Tot life cycle. 

A young boy with spectacles toward the front then held up his hand. The Doctor smiled at the boy and acknowledging him said,

  
“Yes, er, what's your name?” To which the boy answered. Milo. Milo looked like he was the smartest pupil in the room and The Doctor encouraged him to give the answer.

  
“They'd repel each other because they have the same charge.” Answered Milo matter-of-factly.

  
“Correctamundo! A word I have never used before and hopefully never will again….” Declared The Doctor as he trailed off and into the next question, continuing to size up the room. Now for the more complicated questions.

“Question two. I coil up a thin piece of microwire and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected. My question is this. How do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?” The only hand that went up was Milo, while all the other students looked rather bored, not interested or perhaps just didn’t seem to know.   
  


“Someone else.” Asked The Doctor hopefully, he gave a fruitless pause and continued,

“No? Okay, Milo, go for it.”

  
“Measure the current and PDs in an ammeter and a voltmeter.” Answered the boy. If The Doctor had not been here for other reasons than he might have seriously been thinking about the appeal that John Smith must have felt standing in front of a class room when he was a college professor. Teaching, as long as one could still afford to feed themselves and their own, was a very rewarding profession and maybe that was why the TARDIS had chosen it for him. But back on the subject, this child was clever and since he was the only one talking, it would be best to focus on him.

  
“Two to Milo. Right then, Milo, tell me this. True or false. The greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings.” Fired off the Doctor to his pupil. Milo answered false, which was correct. Time to step it up a notch, and make the questions harder.

  
“What is non-coding DNA?” The Doctor asked Milo.

  
“DNA that doesn't code for a protein.” Answered the boy, and again he was correct.

  
“Sixty five thousand nine hundred and eighty three times five?” The Doctor asked just for the clear randomness, hoping it would catch the boy off guard, and the matter of time it would take him, if he could to answer the question.   
  


“Three hundred and twenty nine thousand nine hundred and fifteen.” Even the other children in the room seemed impressed by such a mad calculation done so quickly. The Doctor was desperate to stump the child and taking out the big guns The Doctor decided to ask a question that no Earth child at this point in time could know!  
  


“How do you travel faster than light?” Inquired The Doctor to which the boy said as if it were nothing,  
  


“By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of thirty six point seven recurring.” The Doctor’s jaw dropped.   
  


After the lesson The Doctor had more questions than answers. How did these children and particularly that little boy, Milo, get so smart? The Doctor didn’t like to think that he would ever underestimate a species, but the intelligence of these human pupils just seemed off. The Time Lord made his way down to the Canteen. He could do with a bite to eat. The Doctor joined a queue and grabbed a tray. One of the perks of being a teacher at this school was that you, along with all the other pupils, got a free lunch. The Doctor looked over the chips, fried chicken, and Mac n cheese. Not exactly the best food for youngsters or teachers to be eating on a daily basis, couldn’t they do with a spot of something green on the plate? It was actually reminding him more of what you would have found on an American public school lunch menu in the 1990s.

Looking around you could see that Chips were definitely on the menu here and as he came up to her, he figured that a certain blonde woman would be very happy about that. That same young woman then very unceremoniously slopped mashed something onto The Doctor's tray. It was his lovely wife and she did not look pleased and gave him a very irritated frown. He walked away with a grin, knowing that he would probably pay for it later, but Rose just looked too perfect in her disguise.

Rose was not happy about her new job. A few days ago she was a Time traveling space adventurer/ sort of detective traveling the stars, and now she was back on Earth working in a kitchen as a dinner lady while her husband worked a cushy teaching job. Basically she was back at square one when they first met when she was just Rose the shop girl and John Smith the college professor. Only this time The Doctor wasn’t doing so much romancing this time and more relishing his chance to tease her a bit. Not that she saw anything wrong with working a job like this, well she did prefer shop work to food service, but all it did was remind her about how little of marketable skills she had back on Earth. Out in space she felt like she was a marvel who could do anything, but back here on Earth without additional education, she wasn’t worth much at all by her society’s standards. Rose did not like having a low opinion of herself but that was just all she had to think about as she did such back breaking work in the kitchen. Well it probably wouldn’t be so back breaking if she wasn’t getting more pregnant by the day.

While working this undercover job the two of them more or less had to maintain a level of distance. It was painful enough to Rose that the two of them had had to take off their matching wedding bands to avoid suspicion. The Doctor did not seem too please about it either. They could always become more friend-ish later if the operation ran long, but for now they didn’t know each other. Two new people showing up together was more suspicious than two people separately applying for two different jobs in the same building in different departments. On the application she had listed herself under her ‘maiden name’, again less suspicious as John Smith was The Doctor’s alias. So here she was yet another young single mother to be, working an honest, but hard job, trying to get enough money to raise a kid on. It was bad enough that on just her second day here two staff employees in the office had already seen fit to ask her about her pregnancy. One had asked, why her husband was letting her work such a job when she was expecting? This of course was a ridiculous question to ask. She was pregnant, not handicapped. Most Pregnant mom’s worked all sorts of jobs. Though for appearance’s sake she had had to lie and say that there wasn’t a father and she was doing her best in regards of the circumstances. At least one had obviously felt bad for asking and shut up about it, but the other just gave her the look. And Rose knew all about that look she had seen it be given to many people she had grown up around. 

Why was there such a negative stigma with single mothers? They were always judged and looked down upon. Comments like ‘Oh she should have waited, the Slag’, or ‘How irresponsible’. What was irresponsible about being responsibility and working so you could raise your child as best you could? She wanted her child and she was keeping her child, that was all. How was she irresponsible when plenty of parents just left their kids? Rose had seen that happen too. Rose was always grateful that her mother loved her, even when she was being an irrational teenaged mess. Her mother never really got that ‘single mother’ stigma on the Estate because everyone knew she was a widow, but off the estate she knew her mom got looks from those who didn’t know the story. Meanwhile, she remembered a single father on the Estate and he was always looked upon with admiration. ‘Oh look, there is a single parent trying his best to raise his child’, well women did the same too, but never were that much admired for it. Maybe one day that idea would change.

Rose, while she was alone by herself, scrubbing aluminum trays and putting food in the fryer, was finding herself wondering, what it would have been like if she had had to do all this without the knowledge that they would soon go back to life in the TARDIS? She imagined how hard and disheartening it would have been if she had to work a job like this and raise her child alone. If she had not agreed to go with The Doctor, or if she had not gone back to save him, this is probably what life would have turned up to be like. At least for a while. Rose would have done everything possible to give her child a better life than she had growing up. Even if it meant working a full time job, being a full time mother, and taking night classes to get her A- levels. It would be difficult and lonely, but she knew that she could have done it. She was just glad that she didn’t have to and that her child would have a father in her life growing up, unlike her. Even if he was being a right prat at the moment. All that being said, she still thought that The Doctor was having too much fun at his role and she was going to go over to that table he was sitting at and give him a piece of her mind. 

A little later, once the lunch rush had died down, Rose took her chance and went over to wipe down The Doctor’s table.   
  


“Two days.” Grumbled Rose to her husband who had only started his job really today. Yesterday had been mostly a tour and setting up his desk in the teacher’s office. Rose on the other hand had been practically put right to work in a kitchen and it was short staffed. Why it was that he couldn’t have used the psychic paper to at least get her a job as a gym teacher was beyond her. But The Doctor had said that he wanted someone working in the kitchen as it was important for gaining intelligence. Rose had not bought the excuse but went along with it anyway.   
  


“Sorry,..” It sounded like The Doctor was going to apologize but then jokingly continued,

“Could you just? There's a bit of gravy. No, no, just, just there.” Rose scrubbed away at the table under The Doctor’s instructions and then continued,   
  


“Two days, we've been here.” Protested Rose, whose ankles were getting a little tired but thankfully not sore like she kept expecting the stereotype to happen. The stereotype that she was living up to however was the throwing up, she was still doing that every morning. Then she had to go into a school kitchen, with strong smells, right after throwing up. It was always trying on her for a good hour until her medication kicked in. The Doctor had before offered Rose his comfort and sympathies but right now he looked quite smug and as he popped a fry into his mouth, said,  
  


“Blame your Ex boyfriend. He's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth.” ‘Ah so that was it.’ Thought Rose. The Doctor was miffed that Mickey saw fit to interrupt them. Of course it could be wounded pride that she had actually thought answering a call from Mickey was adequate reason to interrupt the two of them getting finally reacquainted. Or that despite everything that he was doing to render her senseless, she was still able to notice and answer the cell phone. 

For a 900 year old Time Lord he could sure act like a jealous teenager. Her friends’ needs were important to her and just because she had sort of eloped, well she was already married, so ran away with her space alien husband, didn’t mean she was going to cut off her whole life back on Earth. The Doctor would just have to learn to share her. And he might as well start practicing now, because once the baby got here there would permanently be, at least for as long as she was alive, three people in this relationship. He would have to share her with the baby and vice versa. 

Speaking of the baby, all that work on her feet had made Rose hungry. Greedily she looked at The Doctor’s food and asked,  
  


“You eating those chips?” But before The Doctor could answer she had already snatched one away from his plate. Baby needed food.  
  


“Yeah, they're a bit different.” Answered The Doctor, with a slight disinterest that hinted that he did not particularly care for them.   
  


“I think they're gorgeous. Wish I had school dinners like this.” Hummed Rose in delight as she sat down next to her husband and began eating more off his plate. Chips had remained her favorite food, despite the pregnancy, that craving had not changed. If anything she had wanted to eat more of them the last two days. Having no further interest in chips The Doctor noted how the school was not living up to his expectations from movies and stories he had read in books. He supposed that it was too much to hope that a normal ‘muggle’ school would be a bit more Hogwarts in antics, a food fight at least, but these children were surprisingly well behaved.  
  


“It's very well behaved, this place.” Asked The Doctor, but Rose was too busy munching away to give it too much thought.  
  


“I thought there'd be happy slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Huh? Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't tell me I don't fit in.” Asked The Doctor who was now clearly seeing that his expectations were off. Rose was about to make a comment when the head dinner lady came over looking quite cross with Rose.   
  


“You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting.” Head dinner lady Jackson growled at Rose. Looking to save her bacon Rose made the excuse,   
  


“I was just talking to this teacher.” The Doctor then made a polite ‘hello’ as Rose noted,  
  


“He doesn't like the chips.” Perhaps Rose was looking as much to get The Doctor in a bit of trouble with the cook staff as she was looking for a way out of trouble. Making his squirm a bit seemed fair trade for the situation. And he had been poking at her so in the spirit of god humor, she should be allowed to poke right back. Looking very annoyed and defensive, the woman then barked,   
  


“The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance.” She then turned to Rose and hissed,

“Now, get back to work.” Resigned to her fate, Rose did a little spin for her husband and condescended,  
  


“See? This is me. Dinner lady.” And walked away to do her job, only to here The Doctor giggle,

“I'll have the crumble.” Rose just rolled her eyes and smirked,   
  


“I'm so going to kill you.” Knowing full well that even with her back turned to him and walking away that those impressive Time Lord ears of his could hear her. The Doctor took notice of a lot of things actually. Especially one of the teachers talking about his pupil, Milo, failing him and another girl named Melissa being needed to replace him. Had to be a real strict curriculum for such a bright boy to be considered a failure. Something wasn’t adding up and why was it so important to this teacher that all the students, including a lad named Kenny, ate their chips? He also noted the Headmaster standing on the catwalk above, watching over them, like a hawk seeking prey.

  
  


Back in the kitchen Rose was receiving what was obviously a punishment for being caught not working during a sitting. She had spent the better half of an hour ruining her nails scraping off stubborn petrified cheese from the corners of every Mac n Cheese tray. However, just as she had finished up drying up the last of the serving trays she noticed that her other coworker dinner ladies were wheeling in a large cooking oil drum. It had a lots of strange symbols on the side and it looked like it belonged in a toxic waste dump rather than school kitchen. Whatever it was it looked like it had to be rather toxic because they were wearing breathing masks and heavy duty protective gauntlets. Rose was very worried. Whatever it was, if it wasn’t safe for them to breathe in then shouldn’t they be offering her a gas mask too. Since she was pregnant? She didn’t realize that really hazardous chemicals were used in a school kitchen. Rose didn’t know what was toxic for a Time Lord, but for a human, she thought it best not to stand too close. A good thing too because no sooner did she step further back to the other end of the kitchen did Rose hear her phone ring.  
  


“Careful. Keep it steady. Don't spill a drop. I said, keep it steady. Careful. That's it. Easy now. Steady.” Rose heard her supervisor barking to the other dinner ladies as Rose fished out her phone. Quickly she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was her Ex Boyfriend, Mickey Smith. Relieved that Mickey might have some new intelligence and just happy for the familiar company, Rose answered the phone. All the while Jackson was harping more orders to the other ladies as they brought in a second barrel.  
  


“What you got?” Asked Rose into her mobile very eager for information.   
  


“Confirmation.” Said Mickey plainly from inside public library near the school. Mickey was hooked up to the free internet and was making use of his computer skills and a few tricks he picked up from the Doctor to raid various military websites for information.

**“** I just got into army records. Three months ago, massive UFO activity. They logged over forty sightings. Lights in the sky, all of that.” Declared Mickey as he looked over various data of UFO sightings. There was only one problem that was keeping him from getting more detailed information and that was lately he was finding more and more that his cyberspace path was being blocked by a thing called Torchwood.

**“** I can't get any photos, because then it gets all classified and secret. Keeps locking me out.” Complained the man to his Ex girlfriend as ‘Torchwood Access Denied’ kept flashing on his screen. Rose had even less of a head for computers out of the whole group and didn’t want to get into too many particulars. Looking to move the conversation along Rose stated,   
  


“Tell you what, though. Three months ago, turns out all the kitchen staff were replaced. And this lot is weird.” Noted Rose about her coworkers. Rose had had a lot of oddballs as coworkers working various jobs as a shop girl but these food servers took the cake.

**“** See? There's definitely something going on.” Insisted Mickey as any oddity was considered enough proof to Mickey that aliens, most likely non-friendlies, were involved. Then very bashfully and a bit shyly Mickey declared,

**“I** was right to call you home.”   
  


“You know I’m pretty sure that The Doctor thought maybe you called me home just, well, just to call me home. I think he’s a bit jealous, thinks you still are trying to win me back. 900 year old Time Lord acting like a school boy.” Smirked Rose to her old friend.  
  


“Do you think I'd just invent an emergency? I’m not actively trying to put a divider between the two of you, if that’s what he’s convinced of. I’m just your best mate on Earth, helping to save the world.” Mickey replied in a slightly joking voice.

“I wouldn’t have minded if you just wanted to say ‘hello’, Mickey. You’ll be my best mate and don’t worry about The Doctor. I think that because we were in the middle of something when you called, the Doctor feels slighted. Probably had his pride a little tarnished that I literally answered the call of another man at that moment. Which is silly, I love him. He knows that and is being a little bit of a grump, I think. Still is the same man. But of course I wanna help you too, and I enjoy seeing you.”

“I enjoy seeing you too, Rose. But every time I see you, an emergency just gets in the way.” Lamented Mickey over the phone just as the next barrel of, what was assumed to be, oil toppled over and splashed on one of the dinner ladies. The woman promptly began screaming and smoking from whatever had spilt on her. Mickey was right, emergencies did get in the way of her social life. Quickly she said a goodbye to Mickey and went to help assist in helping the now burn victim in the kitchen. However, the injured woman was just hustled into the kitchen’s office room. Rose would think that you would not want to move a burn victim without testing for injuries first! The odd group then pulled down the blinds to the office. The odd behavior finally pulled Rose from distraction. She brought up her mobile and started to dial an ambulance, but before she could, Jackson snapped at Rose,

“What're you doing?” Rose looked rather confused and she should think what she was doing obvious in light of the circumstances.   
  


“Calling an ambulance.” Said Rose, duh.  
  


“No need. She's quite all right.” Insisted Jackson, despite the sudden fire, and screams coming from the small room. Rose just stared with concern and disbelief, but Jackson barked that the woman was fine and she just did that now and again. ‘What? Seem to burst into flames?’ Thought Rose, but her instincts told her not to press further this time. Satisfied that Rose would not call the police or the hospital or anyone of authority outside the school, Jackson went back into the smoke filled office. Rose desperately wanted to believe her superior, that would have meant that there was no odd plot to discover, but she had seen that stuff from the barrel fall on her coworker. There was no way her coworker could be fine. Rose noticed that whatever oil-like substance that had spilt on the drum had eaten through its metal container. Still Rose saw the thing out of place and knew it was better this time to stay quiet and discuss her findings with The Doctor later.

The Doctor did not have any classes to teach at the moment and he was relaxing in the teachers’ lounge with the other members of the faculty. It was very ordinary and domestic except for one thing. The teachers were utterly baffled at the improvement of their pupils. All the teaching staff liked to think that they did a good job, but they could not have anticipated the success that they would see in so short a time with their students.

“Yesterday, I had a twelve year old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy in cubits.” Said a teacher called Parsons, in astonishment to The Doctor. The Doctor had struck up a rapport with the seasoned teacher who was more than happy to have such a good listener to hear his problems. Quite frankly The Doctor was just glad that he got the man off the topic of his wife’s obsession with shoes and onto some information that was more useful to him. Not that the importance of good foot care was lost on the Time Lord, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.  
  


“And, it's ever since the new headmaster arrived?” Asked The Doctor for confirmation. The old man nodded and explained,  
  


“Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half the staff got flu. Finch replaced them with that lot, except for the teacher you replaced, and that was just plain weird, her winning the lottery like that.” He wished that he had won the lottery than maybe he could quit his dead-end job and retire to some tropical island.   
  


“How's that weird?” Asked The Doctor a little nervous.   
  


“She never played. Said the ticket was posted through her door at midnight.” Declared the teacher astonished.   
  


“Hmm. The world is very strange.” Remarked The Doctor, quickly dismissing the subject that he ‘absolutely’ had nothing to do with.

  
The relative relaxed atmosphere of the room was then interrupted as The Headmaster, Finch entered. All of the faculty turned to him and were quiet. He had such an intimidating presence, it was no wonder that the children never misbehaved around him. The Doctor then noticed a brown haired older woman standing next to him and The Doctor was hit with a wave of nostalgia that one could only feel when laying eyes once more on an old friend. Especially a friend that you weren’t sure if you would ever be seeing again. The Doctor had the most happiest and astonished look on his face. His musing was interrupted as the Headmaster began talking and The Doctor, along with the rest of the room listened to hear his warm, but still predatory voice make an announcement.  
  


“Excuse me, colleagues. A moment of your time. May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get a view from the trenches, so to speak. Don't spare my blushes.” Said the Headmaster modestly before leaving the room. The Doctor did not actually see Finch leave. He was too transfixed by the woman. She had locked eyes with him and was walking up to him and now talking to him!  
  


“Hello.” Said Miss Smith politely to the brown haired pinstriped man. Brilliant way to start a conversation, smiled The Doctor to himself like an idiot.  
  


“Oh, I should think so.” Marveled The Doctor, not believing that he was blessed with another chance to speak with Sarah Jane Smith. It was like seeing a ghost from another life. If he was not worried about blowing his cover, he might actually have tried to give himself away so that she would recognize him. But at the same time it was sort of a comfort to have the ability to hide behind anonymity. He did not know how Sarah would react if she knew that she was standing before her old friend, The Doctor again, nor did he know what he would say. At least this way he was protected and felt more confident in engaging her in conversation. Conversation. What do you say over 30 years later? Fortunately, the Doctor did not have to think about that very long as Sarah Jane was asking him a question.   
  


“And, you are?” Asked Sarah Jane, ever the reporter and wanting to get to the bottom of things, though as politely as possible in this case. The Doctor was so distracted by hearing her voice and its vibrations again that he almost missed the question.   
  


“Hm? Er, Smith. John Smith.” Said The Doctor finally, as he was going by his usual alias. This comment took Sarah Jane aback by the familiar reference.   
  


“John Smith. I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name.” That was Sarah Jane even if she didn’t have all the clues to solving the mystery; she still caught them as they came and analyzed them. Oh how he almost wished that she would figure it out right there and recognize him. The Doctor was doing all he could to hold back the joyful emotion in his voice as he replied,   
  


“Well, it's a very common name.” This of course was a very good point. Sarah Jane regarded this answers and stated,   
  


“He was a very uncommon man. Nice to meet you.” Sarah Jane liked this man and although her day was worrisome, just meeting this little reminder who, without knowing it and free of charge, gave her a pleasant trip down memory lane was the highlight of her day.   
  


“Nice to meet you. Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant.” Smiled The Doctor, now quite sure he was looking stupid. The pleasantries were now over. Since this man seemed so pleased to speak with her, Sarah Jane decided he would make a good candidate to get information out of and proceeded to question him.   
  


“Er, so, er, have you worked here long?” Asked Sarah Jane getting right down to business. The Doctor was disappointed at this question as he knew that he could not offer that much information to her and declared,  
  


“No. Er, it's only my second day.” This was actually good for Sarah Jane. A fresh set of eyes that was not yet fully integrated into the system would certainly notice some things out of place and out of the ordinary in a new school.  
  


“Oh, you're new, then. So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?” Questioned Sarah Jane of the brown haired man. With a smirk on his face and happy to see that Sarah Jane just kept on doing what she did and being brilliant after she left, said,  
  


“You don't sound like someone just doing a profile.” Sarah Jane then just shook off the comment as if it was nothing, perhaps she would not get a lot out of the silly grinning man, and replied,   
  


“Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here.”   
  


“No. Good for you.” Smiled The Doctor as Sarah Jane moved away and started doing her rounds about the room. The Doctor watched his old friend talking to the other members of the faculty, shaking hands and being brilliantly fantastic with trying to get to the bottom of the mystery that was this school. Looks like Mickey wasn’t the only Smith that spotted trouble spots.  
  


“Good for you. Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith.” Grinned The Doctor to himself. He couldn’t believe that their paths had crossed again and as she left the office and as The Doctor made his way to his next class, The Doctor could not help but smile as he was lost in the memories of happier and simpler times long past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always struggled a bit with love scenes, feels clumsy at best. I'm trying to move outside my comfort zone a bit. Maybe I'll get better at it down the road. Sorry if any of you feel cheated out of a love making scene. I hope all of you are old enough to read any suggestive stuff I write anyway.


	14. The Mrs. and the Ex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domestic troubles aplenty.

**Complications**

**by the Plot-Thinens**

Chapter 14 –The Mrs. and the Ex

  
The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey walked out of the TARDIS. They had materialized the TARDIS into a maintenance closet on the ground floor of the school. It was dark out and the school appeared deserted and hence safe for The Doctor and company to do some investigating without anyone else around. Free from the restrictions of their ‘day jobs’ Rose looked about the deserted hallways. Happy to be out of her work clothes, she took The Doctor’s hand which he took quite happily too. Rose couldn’t help but notice that The Doctor chanced a glance back at Mickey to gauge his reaction. Rose rolled her eyes and squeezed her jealous Time Lord’s hand to pull his attention back to her. Giggling Rose declared,

“Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong. When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school.” The Doctor smiled at that statement, he imagined a cute inquisitive Rose as a child wondering about the after school lives of her teachers. And, of course, thoughts of a small Rose reminded him of the little one they were expecting. He hoped that she would look like Rose and speaking of his baby, she was growing faster by the day. The Doctor was even beginning to notice a heightened brain activity in his unborn child’s mind. The Doctor was impressed with her progress which surprised him honestly since due to the nature of his child’s conception and genetics, he had no idea what to expect in her growth and development. Or how long that she would take to gestate…’Best not tell Rose that one’, he thought. Looking to bring his thoughts back to the present and the job at hand The Doctor rallied the troops and stated,   
  


“All right, team. Oh, I hate people who say team. Er, gang. Er, comrades. Anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. I'm going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes.” The Doctor was especially keen on those ten minutes with Rose, since he did not like having her and her danger prone antics to be out of his sight for too long. He’d had enough close calls with Rose to make him do anything but take her safety for granted. The Doctor then left Mickey and Rose to finish his end of the investigation.

Rose looked over to her friend Mickey. She knew that she was accustomed now to not playing by the rules and basically breaking any convention…or law for the sake of the investigation, but Mickey was not. He was still green to this and just being in a building after hours when you weren’t supposed to, she knew was bugging him. Breaking into a school, in human society, didn't have good optics, no matter how you looked at it.  
  
  


“You going to be all right?” Asked Rose, wanting to make sure that he would be good on his own while she did her job. Mickey looked a bit affronted at first but then confidently assured Rose,   
  


“Me? Please. Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this.” Mickey then left to prove his point. Rose just hoped that he would stay out of trouble. However, no sooner did he leave, he was back again. Rose suspected as much since he went in the wrong direction. Mickey then asked her where the Maths Department was and she, actually having knowledge of the building, pointed him in the right direction.  
  


“Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, on the right.” Explained Rose with a smile. Mickey thanked his friend and this time was finally on his way in the right direction. 

While Rose was gathering oil samples in the kitchen another woman was wandering around the building looking for clues as to the oddities of this school. She also, like Rose, was trying to work as silently as possible and she, like Rose, had been spooked by loud high pitch screeches overhead in the darkness. It was the same woman that The Doctor had met earlier, Sarah Jane Smith, and wanting to play things cautiously she decided to duck into a storeroom and wait to see if whatever had made that shrieking noise came back. She was expecting to find some mops, brooms and cleaning supplies inside, but what she actually found left her dumbfounded. Inside the storeroom was a blue police box, its lights eerily glowing like a half forgotten memory beckoning her to come near. Without a doubt it was the TARDIS. Overwhelmed, she completely forgot the reason she had entered the store room in the first place and quietly backed out of the room. She was however startled when from behind she heard a man say,

“Hello, Sarah Jane.” She spun around fast and looked to the person who spoke, it was the same brown haired silly man that she had spoken to earlier that day. And then it clicked,   
  


“It's you. Oh, Doctor. Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it. You've regenerated.” She sputtered in disbelief. The Doctor just smiled at her and replied,   
  


“Yeah. Half a dozen times since we last met.” This was a relief to The Doctor, that Sarah Jane recognized him right away and accepted it. Even Rose had not done the same, though to be fair Sarah Jane was already familiar with regeneration. Having seen him regenerate before meant she was in a situation to easily accept the truth. Apparently she had also seen the TARDIS, which was a good prop to help sell the truth to her. It was wonderful seeing that although the years had changed her appearance, who she was on the inside, a journalist/ detective had not changed.

Sarah Jane looked over the man before her. He was tall, handsome, and very young looking. When she last saw The Doctor, she had been the young thing and him the older looking one, and even still when he regenerated was older looking than she was. She had to admit that even to her more distinguished heart he was very pleasing to the eyes and said the only thing she could, as her mind was too overwhelmed to filter itself,

  
  


“You look incredible.” It was her turn to look old and she could not help but wonder how she looked to him now that her youth had passed her. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she could not help it.   
  


“So do you.” Said The Doctor implicitly. Sarah Jane was very flattered but reasoned that he must have just been being polite and dismissed it by saying,   
  


“Hmm. I got old. What are you doing here?” Sarah Jane needed to push aside the awkwardness and get down to a distraction, which of course was the business at hand. If she thought too much about what this meeting could mean for her, she might find herself begging to travel with him again. And right now she wasn’t in the mind to decide if that was really what she wanted.  
  


“Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results. I couldn't resist. What about you?” Asked The Doctor as he scratched the back of his head as if he were talking about the weather. Decades later and the two of them were still on the same wave length. Sarah Jane smiled and declared,   
  


“The same.” Then her demur changed and she became very overcome with emotion from seeing her dearest friend again. A friend that she thought she would never see again. Fighting back tears she declared,

“I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died.” She had waited and in her mind that was the only excuse that she could think of for The Doctor to not come back and find her, to find some means to communicate with her. She had mourned him, oh how she had mourned his supposed death. She had been ruined for anyone else and here he was again, over 30 years later. Which was little time for him, but to her it was a big chuck of her life already gone. She was angry, depressed, hurt, sad, happy, a whole collection of emotions were going through her over the time they had lost together. If that time even meant anything to him at all. Yes, she had had deeper feelings for him when he had been grey haired and they had slipped more into a best friends relationship after he had regenerated, but with years to think over their relationship and all they had done together and seen. She had reached the conclusion that she had been in love with him, so what happened now?  
  


“I lived. Everyone else died.” Said The Doctor sadly in answer of her question, a hint of the pain on his otherwise calm looking face.   
  


“What do you mean?” Question Sarah Jane for clarity. He couldn’t possibly mean his whole planet, could he? If that was the case, then her poor Doctor.   
  


“Everyone died, Sarah.” The Doctor said, it now sounding painful on his voice.  
  


“I can't believe it's you.” Gasped Sarah Jane, overwhelmed by all the information that her senses were taking in. It seemed impossible that out of the infinite reaches of time and space that their path should accidently cross once more. Her pondering however was interrupted by the sound of a high pitch scream of a man, and although Sarah Jane did not know who it was that was screaming, The Doctor had no doubt that it was Mickey screaming like a little boy. It couldn’t be too bad otherwise his scream would be far worse. Still best to check on him and besides Mickey might have found something worth looking at.  
  


“Okay, now I can!” Smirked Sarah Jane, The Doctor grabbed Sarah Jane by her hand and then led her off in the direction of Mickey’s scream. 

Grinning to each other all the way The Doctor and Sarah Jane moved down the hall getting ever closer to Mickey, and it was if no time had passed at all. Sarah Jane was older now but she had not forgotten how to run. In fact she felt as if her years were melting off her as they flew down the hallway with The Doctor. Memories of their adventures together flood both their heads as they ran toward the next mystery together, but then, up ahead, their paths crossed with another one of The Doctor’s companions, his wife. Rose was just about half past them when her head registered that she had just ran past The Doctor. She began to hold up the little container of oil she had scooped up to show him, but then her brain registered something different about the situation. What perplexed her was he appeared to not be alone. Rose spun around to get a better look.  
  
  


“Did you hear that?” Asked Rose to her husband as her eyes finally locked on the woman holding her husband’s hand. The Doctor had a panicked look on his face and then quickly dropped Sarah Jane’s hand just as Rose was bringing her eyes obviously down to the two people’s formally joined hands. This gesture did not go unnoticed by Sarah Jane either as she looked at the young and beautiful blond in front of her. Who was this?

“Who's she?” Asked Rose feeling decidedly a little jealous and/ or suspicious of what was going on, after all, she was only human. Rose also couldn’t help but feel that The Doctor had at that moment a very guilty look on his face. These feelings were not unfounded as The Doctor, seeing that he had been caught with his proverbial hand in the cookie jar, as far as Rose was concerned, took evasive actions. Distancing himself slightly from the two newly introduced women, The Doctor decided it was as better time as any to make introductions.  
  


“Rose, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane, Rose.” Introduced The Doctor hastily, quite scared, and praying for once that human domestic pleasantries would follow. The Time Lord read and smelt feelings of confusion on both the woman as well as the sense that both were, to a level, threatened by the other. The levels were not too high yet so he hoped that that feelings in them would pass and that he would not have to deal with any fallout afterwards.  
  


“Hi. Nice to meet you." Smiled Sarah Jane a bit forced, she then turned to The Doctor,

"You can tell you're getting older. Your assistants are getting younger.” Said Sarah Jane to The Doctor, but seemed more directed at Rose in a bit vindictively manner. The Doctor did not see this as a good sign. Rose did not like being talked about like she was not in the room and she now felt quite talked down to and/ or dismissed by this older woman and that would not do. She had been at first surprised by her appearance and if she were honest with herself, threatened by the hand holding, but even though she was surprised and suspicious, she had been willing to hear things out. Which was why the mystery woman’s response to her had left quite the ill impression on Rose. Who was this lady and why was The Doctor letting her speak to his wife like that?  
  


“I'm not his assistant. I’m his wife.” Scoffed Rose showing her ring to the interloping woman. Rose knew that it was a stereotypical move, but she didn’t care at this moment, she wanted to put the brunette in her place. By this Sarah Jane was properly floored, which was just the reaction that Rose wanted. That’s when Sarah Jane realized that not only had the Doctor been away for years and suddenly shown up again, but he was married too?! Well that might be one reason why he never came back, but he had claimed to have regenerated over a dozen times. That was years at least and if this Rose woman was local to this time period that meant that The Doctor have been back to Earth in those years before they met again. Why had he not come back then, she deserved an explanation at least. She looked to The Doctor for confirmation of this marriage and he sheepishly raised his hand up to the light and Sarah Jane finally noticed the ring. Why she had not noticed it when they were holding hands, she did not know. Maybe Sarah Jane was just so elated by going on a new adventure with her Doctor again. Or maybe it was that his hands were always so much cooler that metal on his skin went unnoticed, but there it was a gold ring on his finger. This woman had done what Sarah Jane thought no one could, settle The Doctor down, well a bit anyway, a commitment out of him was no easy task as she recalled. Sarah Jane finally stopped looking at the young woman’s gorgeous face and at the rest of her. This much younger woman, who had managed what no one else she thought could, not only married The Doctor, but she appeared to be a least a few months pregnant!   
  


“How old are you?” Asked Sarah Jane automatically, being unable to control the question that came out. 

  
“21” Answered Rose on guard, wondering what it was to this older woman. Well technically she was still sort of 20 but her passport said she was 21 and it was best to go by that.

  
“You impregnated a 21 year old girl? You’re 700 years old, you crib robber!” Sarah Jane all but growled at The Doctor, not believing what she was hearing or that she was actually shouting at The Doctor for this reason. She had argued with him for many reasons and over many things, but this was something that she never even imagined coming up. She was fuming. It was almost like she lost control of herself there for a minute, and needed to get a hold on herself. She took a deep breath long enough to once again become master of herself and to hear Rose correct her,

“That’s 21 year old WOMAN, not girl!” Rose was tired of being called girl, she was a grown woman and not in the mood to be insulted by a woman she just met who she found holding her husband’s hand a moment ago. Handholding. Perhaps a normal couple might have found handholding to be not a big deal at all, but to The Doctor and Rose it was a very big deal. For almost half a year that had been almost the only contact that they had in private. And for almost a full year the only contact they had ever shared while out in public. Rose had had to go, cold turkey, from a loving affectionate and fantastically physical relationship to one of abstinence and detachment literally overnight. She had been so starved for physical signs of affection and tenderness in that time, when he wore leather, that handholding Rose almost equated to foreplay or even sex. So to see him doing that so freely and easily with another woman that she had just met out of the blue was a stab in her gut.  
  
“900 years now actually...” Said The Doctor, not really helping himself, and wishing for a change in the subject. Then he remembered that Mickey was still possibly in distress. Never happier to have Mickey along, The Doctor walked off towards the direction of his screams a minute ago and said,

“Mickey could be in trouble we should see to him.” This provided the needed interruption and they set off to find Mickey. ‘I could kiss that man.’ Thought The Doctor.

When the group had finally got to Mickey he was standing in the light of a small cupboard with dozens of plastic looking bags around him.

“Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me.” Explained Mickey, trying to hold onto what was left of his dignity. Rose walked around her husband and Mickey to get a better look at what all the excitement was about only to have her mouth slack at what she saw.  
  


“Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats.” Noted Rose as she looked at the contents spilled out on the floor around Mickey. Not wanting the conversation to slip back to focusing on him or the women around him, The Doctor began to reprimand Mickey 'Mouse'.  
  


“And you decided to scream.” Said The Doctor in complete irritation at his wife’s Ex boyfriend.   
  


“It took me by surprise!” Mickey said to defend himself and his outburst.   
  


“Like a little girl?” Scolded The Doctor, one for the fact that they were trying to be quiet about sneaking around inside a school after hours and two he wanted any excuse to not have to engage both Rose and Sarah Jane in conversation at the moment. The affront to Mickey’s masculinity provided The Doctor with the response he wanted and Mickey defended,  
  


“It was dark! I was covered in rats!” ‘Yes, yes keep it going, Mickey.’ Thought The Doctor as he volleyed,  
  


“Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt.” Mickey couldn’t help but trail his hand up to his head as if The Doctor just saying it would make him sprout pigtails. Rose however, although confused and irritated about the situation that had just presented itself with this woman, Sarah Jane, had not forgotten the task at hand. They had children to protect and getting the distracted Doctor and Mickey’s attention announced,  
  


“Hello, can we focus? Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?” Sarah Jane just rolled her eyes at the younger woman, and as much as she hated to admit it, was wondering if the Doctor had married her just for looks and not brains. ‘Must have got this one caught up in his life pretty young,’ thought Sarah Jane. The Doctor having the packages brought back to his attention then picked up one and observed it.  
  


“Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you never reached that bit? When did you start traveling with The Doctor?” asked Sarah Jane rubbing in what she perceived as ignorance due to lack of education, probably a bit more than she should. This was a risky statement considering that Rose was The Doctor’s wife, but if that was the case then she, the supposed best friend of The Doctor, didn’t have too much to lose as she was also the already discarded companion of The Doctor. Rose was now at the end of her patience with this woman that The Doctor had brought back. The Blond was even more irritated with the knocks that Sarah Jane was taking at her advanced education or lack thereof. She was going back to school before this whole mess started and had been doing well. Her life was actually more on track than most even now with her current life style she thought.  
  


“Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?” Growled Rose not letting this rude woman have an inch. And if she was a former companion of The Doctor then that could very well be the case. Sarah Jane was obviously insulted and The Doctor could now see that the two women were about ready to possibly come to blows. Not wanting to see either of the women that he held in such high regard at each other’s throats, he interrupted and said,  
  


“Anyway, moving on. Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office.” He then tossed the rat package in his hand at Mickey causing him to shutter, hoping the action would encourage Mickey to summon some courage for the sake of not looking foolish over a few dead rats. 

The Doctor prayed that a new objective would keep the peace between everyone until they were in a less dangerous situation, but then at that point The Doctor wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He couldn’t help but feel that Rose definitely felt threatened by Sarah Jane now. And The Doctor wasn’t dumb enough not to see that meeting another woman, much less his wife was not what Sarah Jane had probably been expecting to see. When she had last seen him, he had been alone after dropping her off and she had most likely expected that he would be back for her in a short bit of time, which he had not been. It was like Sarah Jane had been on pause all this time waiting for him and now when he had come back, what she felt was her place was now permanently taken. Of course she should be upset and be looking for someone to take it out on. He just wished that Sarah Jane would take it out on him instead of Rose, or maybe no one at all. The Doctor honestly did not want to face any kind of backlash for this situation, but that seemed unavoidable. Ironic since he seemed to usually be so good at avoiding domestic troubles until recently. And arguing companions was very domestic. Except one was not just a companion anymore and there was the rub in this situation. Any affection or comfort directed at Rose would be a slap to Sarah Jane and any affection or comfort to Sarah Jane would be a slap to Rose. He was stuck good this time.

They were now a ways down the corridor to Finch’s office and the uneasy quiet was too much for Rose to bear with such an uncouth woman as company at your side. The Doctor, Rose noticed was cowardly keeping up at the rear and not providing any more information about the woman. Rose decided to throw shark bait in the water and see what came up snapping.

“I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?” Asked Rose in a forced friendly voice that made The Doctor cringe at the discussion to come.   
  


“Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with The Doctor.” Declared Sarah Jane just as defensively and flaunting her seniority over the woman who she viewed as the new comer.   
  


“Oh. Well, my husband’s never mentioned you.” Said Rose dismissively, and enjoying that fact just a bit too much. The Doctor was not comfortable, not at all. He was thinking of all the blood thirsty beast of 1256 different planets that he would rather be locked in a hallway with right now than having to deal with this situation he was in. He had been so drunk on the happiness of seeing Sarah Jane again after so long. So drunk that his mind had completely forgotten to think of what sort of effect being seen with an past female companion, that he was so close to, would have on his wife. How would he have felt if he saw Rose holding hands with another man? Well he did know what that felt like. He had been completely green eyed monster about any man who so much as looked at her too long. Why should Rose not feel any more protective of her mate than he was? And now he was in this situation and he did not see a proper exit. He didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but ultimately someone would. And it would only be a bit longer before his brain started to stop hiding a truth that he had kept secret from himself and ignore as best he could. Something that Sarah Jane’s presence was obvious proof of and brought undeniably to the light. The fatal flaw in his relationship with any human being. 

Trying to save face and not make Sarah Jane feel like she had been tossed aside and forgotten the Doctor lied,  
  


“Oh, I must've done. Sarah Jane. Mention her all the time.” The Doctor said nervously as he looked anywhere else.   
  


“Hold on.” Said Rose with a condescending thoughtful pause that was clearly just for show before concluding,

“Sorry. Never.” The blond not knowing if that bit of information was more pleasant, because it shocked the woman that her instincts was registering as interloper, or painful because it was yet another reminder of how little she knew about the man she was married to. Rose then stormed off, leaving a shocked Sarah Jane behind her.   
  


“What, not even once?... He didn't mention me even once?” Questioned Sarah Jane in shocked disbelief as she followed after Rose crestfallen. The Doctor pulled at his ear some more and continued to take up the back of the line with Mickey. He was too afraid to get too close to the two women, less he be dragged further into the domestic argument and that would be his undoing.   
  


“Ho, ho, mate. The missus and the ex. Welcome to every man's worst nightmare.” Crowed Mickey to The Doctor as he patted him on the back. Mickey was loving watching The Doctor squirm and metaphorically sweat. After all the misery, teasing, and all the times The Doctor acted like he was above humans and their domestics this was bliss to see him get his comeuppance. After all the times he was made to look like the bumbling idiot, he now got to see The Doctor for what he was, just a normal bloke with a compensating ride for running away from his responsibilities.   
**  
  
**

“Maybe those rats were food.” Noted The Doctor as he used his Sonic Screwdriver on the lock to the Headmaster’s office.

  
“Food for what?” Asked a mystified Rose. Even if the school had ten pet snakes, this number of rats was overkill. The Doctor opened the door slowly and did not say anything, but looked up and then very quietly he whispered,

“Rose… you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school?... Well, they do.” Above his head were numerous giant bat-like creatures that appeared to be hanging upside down and sleeping. 

  
“No way!” Mickey said in a whisper of fear before making a hasty retreat down the hall, leaving everyone else behind. Thinking it best not to disturb them, as any species in the middle of their sleep cycle, The Doctor along with Sarah Jane and Rose sedately backed out of the room. The Doctor then closed the door just missing one waking up. The bat creature was now obviously anxious to see what these intruders were about.

Outside the school building The Doctor and company were just catching up with an out of breath Mickey Smith who quickly wheezed out,

**“** I am not going back in there. No way.” He was very clearly spooked and it seemed everyone but The Doctor felt sorry for him. Both of the women knew that the terrors that showed up from time to time when traveling with The Doctor could not be borne by everyone. 

  
“Those were teachers.” Stated Rose, still not believing her own eyes or words.   
  


“When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on.” Said The Doctor calmly and obviously not scared at all. He wanted to get back inside and get to the bottom of this.   
  


“Come on? You've got to be kidding!” Whined Mickey at the group. The Doctor was unmoved by Mickey’s distracting distress and simply stated,   
  


“I need the TARDIS. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen.” He was not entirely looking forward to doing that however as it meant running back into a school crawling with bat creatures, but there was nothing for it. Sarah Jane however perked up, grabbed The Doctor by his arm and suggested,   
  


“I might be able to help you there. I've got something to show you.” The Doctor was intrigued.

Sarah Jane led the odd group back to her car in a nearby car park outside the school grounds. Proudly she then opened the boot of her car and pulled off a blanket that was draped over a metal case in the boot of her car. It was a strange object and Mickey looked at it confused while Rose just watched waiting to draw her conclusion when it came to matters of tech with The Doctor. The Doctor needed only a nanosecond for the metal creature to register to him and happily declared,   
  


“K9! … Rose Tyler Smith, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise.” Rose could see that it was shaped to resemble a dog, if the name didn’t give it away. Design, however, was matter that she could not understand in this case.  
  


“Why does he look so disco?” Asked Rose, confused as to why the bit of tech looked like it was pulled out of the 70s. Well it might have been, but judging by The Doctor’s excitement, it was a lot more advanced then something from the 70s…so why did it look like that? Rose’s statement had earned a scowl from Sarah Jane, who held a place in her heart for the ‘disco looking’ robot deeper than most would have for a machine. To her this machine was as alive, well when it was working, as any person could be.  
  


“Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge.” Said The Doctor to his wife indignantly. He then asked Sarah Jane, what had happened to K-9?   
  


“Oh, one day, he just, nothing.” Mourned Sarah Jane to The Doctor over her robotic dog. 

“Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?” Asked The Doctor as if it were obvious. Sarah however couldn’t believe The Doctor would suggest that. No matter what his form, he was absentminded. She was convinced that he lost track of the technology available century to century.   
  


“Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro, Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone.” Explained Sarah Jane in a worried tone. Rose effectively left out of the conversation was starting to realize that she was missing a lot of information from The Doctor’s past that would have been helpful to know as the two old friends slipped into an obvious old pattern from their days together. Mickey was just looking at Rose hoping to be given some subtext from her, but clearly seeing that she was just as in the dark thought it best to remain silent.  
  


“Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, eh?” Asked The Doctor to the metal dog in a silly voice. A voice that one would speak to a real dog in as he scratched the metal rusty dog’s head. Sarah Jane just rolled her eyes at The Doctor, but then couldn’t help but smile at him as he began setting about to fix the metal dog. Rose also rolled her eyes at The Doctor’s baby talk to the metal dog but couldn’t help but catch the look that Sarah Jane was giving The Doctor. Rose had made it many times before when looking at the man she loved. Sarah Jane had traveled with The Doctor, Rose wondered why she had never put a lot of thought into the fact that she was probably not the first woman he had traveled with. Why had she never thought that there were other like her before her. Except she thought she was different, she was ‘The Doctor’s wife’ after all. People were allowed to go on dates and have girlfriends or boyfriends before they married. But as she watched The Doctor and Sarah Jane share such affection and comradery over the rusted metal dog in the back of that car, she felt fear. Apart of her told herself it was ridiculous to be jealous, a part of her told her that she was the one with the ring on her finger, but she felt an overwhelming feeling that The Doctor might disappear. Little did she realize that those thoughts were not in part completely out there. She was without knowing it again reading off her child’s emotions. Their child sensed a fear and conflict creeping into The Doctor’s mind and that anxiety was fueling Rose’s. Wanting to snap herself out of this uncomfortable emotion and to draw The Doctor back to the present and out of the past, declared,  
  


“Look, no offence, but could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog. We're busy.” This effectively ended discussion over K-9. For the moment. The Doctor now remembering that they had a mystery to solve thought about the oil that they had sampled. With the TARDIS in enemy territory it was not impossible to get to the TARDIS, but it probably would be easier if K-9 could run the analysis instead. It wouldn’t take too long to fix the metal dog so The Doctor proposed moving their operation to a better lit area. A nearby coffee shop was suggested and the group moved out. Little did they know that a giant alien bat creature was following them from the air.

Rose and Mickey were at the counter in the coffee shop while the Doctor and Sarah Jane were a few tables back seeing to the defunct K9. Rose was in no better a mood and she reasoned that her favorite food would do her some good. Seeing that the shop sold chips Rose greedily ordered the largest serving she could get her hands on and waited for her meal to be handed off to her. She burned a lot of calories these days. Mickey however was never in a better mood now that he was safely away from the alien bats. Knowingly he smirked,  
  


“You see, what's impressive is that it's been nearly an hour since we met her and I still haven't said I told you so.” Rose was wanting none of this now and growled, 

“I'm not listening to this. He’s just catching up with an old friend.” Mickey was about as convinced as Rose was that that was true and he grinned,

  
“Although, I have prepared a little 'I was right' dance that I can show you later. ” Rose food finally came around and paying the lady behind the counter two quid she grabbed up the container holding her order. No sooner was it in her hands; she opened the lid and proceeded to shovel the chips into her hungry mouth.   
  


“All this time you've been giving it, he's different, when the truth is, he's just like any other bloke. I’d keep an eye out for any other girls, since he got rid of the leather and the big ears, you might have trouble keeping them other girls off him. Maybe that last face was just a fluke. I wonder how long a trail of birds a bloke like The Doctor might have chasing after him through space and history. You might be just number 900 in his long line of 900 years of life. Love em and leave em a hundred years behind, have to admit it’s a clever way for a git to avoid old girlfriends he’s wronged.” Gloating Mickey about how right he might have been all along about The Doctor’s character as Rose tried to ignore what her Ex boyfriend soon to be ex friend was saying. She didn’t even want to think about what it would have been like if they had run into Sarah Jane back when he was his old self. The two sitting over at that table would have looked more like they belonged together than she ever did with her blue eyed Doctor. Their relationship had been less solidified back then, what if he had decided that this older, educated, and admittedly refine woman was a better match for him? With thoughts like that fishing around in her head the two then sat down at a table close by enough to hear what The Doctor and Sarah Jane were talking about. Satisfied that she could listen in if she wanted to, Rose snipped back to Mickey in a low voice,

  
“You don't know what you're talking about, he loves me. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I sort of have proof.” Said Rose as she pointed at her stomach and dismissed Mickey’s remarks. She then started eating more chips like she was a starving beast. Mickey couldn’t help but feel that Rose was trying to convince herself of that as much as she was trying to convince him. 

  
“Since when does that mean anything? We both have known tons of blokes who just up and leave when a baby comes into the equation. And for most of those blokes we knew the poor girl left behind too. I’m just worried that that going to happen to you, Rose. Would you rather I didn’t show any concern for you? I’m just worried, Rose. ” ‘Unlike himself’, thought Mickey, figuring that a statement like that was too cruel to make right now. Mickey then continued,  
  
“You even told me that the baby was an accident and marrying you sure was one too. He wasn’t even himself when he married you, no offense. To him it could have been like a drunk Vegas wedding. How do you know that that baby just isn’t convenient for him now?”

“You know nothing about what’s between The Doctor and me.” Said Rose now losing her patience and not liking that someone, let alone her best friend, was trying to convince her that her husband would leave her…even though he had kinda done that once before, said a voice in a dark corner of her mind. ‘Why should a child make any difference?’ asked another voice. But this voice she felt was upsetting her baby’s mind and she tried her best to silence it. Rose felt ashamed that she would so easily question his love for her or their connection, but it wasn’t like she kept secrets from him about her past, granted there was more of it than hers. Still this was a time that The Doctor should be offering her reassurance, not being distant and standoffish from her like he was doing now. Surely if the baby could sense her distress then The Doctor could. Why was he ignoring her? It wasn’t like she wanted him to blow off Sarah Jane, but a kiss or some kind of reassurance before going over to talk with Sarah Jane would have been appreciated and a comfort. Mickey was disappointed and a bit offended that Rose would dismiss his observation especially since he had known her the longest. He just wished she’d see sense that in the long run this relationship probably wasn’t going to work out and she’d just end up hurt. Perhaps he was peeved a bit more than he would like to admit, but driving his point home, Mickey plainly said,

“Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But if I were you I'd go easy on the chips in case the undeserving git decides to find a new Earth girl to abduct.”   
  
Rose was about to make an angry retort when a small popping explosion drew their attention back The Doctor and Sarah Jane’s table. Sarah Jane looked worried and Rose felt a ping of pity for the woman’s robot, but then remembered that she had been the catalyst for all this trouble with The Doctor. Oh, Rose knew in her heart that the catalyst was how The Doctor was treating the situation and not Sarah Jane, but for the moment she was still too irrationally angry with Sarah Jane to care. It was her husband who was ignoring his wife, after all, and she should confront him about that soon. The diner owner gave The Doctor an angry look but The Doctor just gave a reassuring smile that it would not happen again. She gave him a warning glare and The Doctor went back to work. Not looking to continue her conversation with Mickey, Rose decided to listen in on The Doctor and his old companion. Mickey was just as curious and listened in too.

Sarah Jane leaned in close to The Doctor and conspiratorially said,

“I thought of you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead. I thought, oh yeah, bet he's up there.” The Doctor could see that her smile didn’t quite meet her eyes. Looking to keep the mood light The Doctor grinned back,

  
“Right on top of it, yeah.”

“And Rose?” questioned Sarah Jane guardedly. 

  
“She was there too.” He answered plainly and continued his repairs on K-9. Seeing that she was going to have to be the one to make the first move, Sarah Jane with courage that she did not feel asked the Doctor,   
  


“Did I do something wrong? Because you never came back for me. You just dumped me.” The Doctor inwardly cringed; he had not wanted to engage in this topic.  
  


“I told you. I was called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed.” The Doctor reminded Sarah Jane probably hoping that that absolved him of any wrong doing against Sarah Jane.   
  


“I waited for you. I missed you.” Said Sarah Jane sincerely.   
  


“Oh, you didn't need me. You were getting on with your life.” The Doctor smiled as he made his excuse looking uncomfortable with the direction that he knew this conversation would ultimately go. Clearly feeling that The Doctor did not fully grasp just how much he meant to Sarah, and how much a part of her life he had been, Sarah Jane retorted in a hurt and angered voice,   
  


“You were my life.” The Doctor was taken aback by the statement but then quickly cowered back to his work.

“You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth… How could anything compare to that?” Continued Sarah Jane. The Doctor didn’t know what to say to that. Literally, it sounded to him like she was bitter about the experience. An experience that only a hand full of humans had ever got to have. He never wanted to hurt Sarah Jane, he just had not wanted to get hurt either. Were none of those times worth anything now that they had ended on a bad note? Burying problems was easier than dealing with them to the Time Lord and he honestly didn’t know where things went from here.

“All those things you saw, do you want me to apologize for that?” Asked The Doctor confused.   
  


“No, but we get a taste of that splendor and then we have to go back.” Mourned Sarah Jane. The Doctor did not want his old companion to feel that way. He wanted her to see that her life after him had been important , that it mattered, and was not by any means mediocre. He wanted her to see that she had done fine on her own as much as he wanted this uncomfortable domestic conversation to end.  
  


“Look at you, you're investigating. You found that school. You're doing what we always did.” Reminded The Doctor, hoping against hope that that would end the matter, but he knew it wouldn’t. She was doing what they always did, this was true, but that was only half of it. What she really missed was doing that with The Doctor and that was a very important half of what made it worthwhile and wonderful.   
  


“You could have come back.” Affirmed Sarah Jane, not taking his excuse.   
  


“I couldn't.” Said The Doctor resolutely.   
  


“Why not?” Demanded Sarah. The Doctor just looked at her and wondered how such a simple fact could stare Sarah in the face and yet she could not see it. Perhaps because she lived with that fact and it was just an inevitable part of her life that she was blinded to his plight. The plight was how such short-lived human beings appeared to a near immortal being by comparison. A plight that was quickly and trying to pop the bubble he had made and tried desperately to live in for so long. Sarah Jane would age and die and Rose although she looked young and healthy now would in a few short decades fall ill to the same affliction and leave him alone again. 

Sarah tried to gestures a need of a response from The Doctor but he was silent and simply kept working on K9. He reflected on the human friends and family surrounding him. He couldn’t tell Sarah Jane the real reason he couldn’t come back for her. It was the same reason that he had fought so hard not to fall in love with Rose when he turned back into a Time Lord. It was the same reason why he had been tamping down the fears that came with his child’s unique biology. It was the same reason he had been locking away so many fears and emotions for so long so that he could live in denial and try to enjoy his current occupants of the TARDIS that were his family. Oh, why couldn’t humans be like this mechanical dog he was working on? If it ever broke down, he could just fix it good as new, humans not so much. 

He knew that he would have to face it eventually but he had hoped to deny it for as long as he could. Only now with Sarah Jane here, his old companion, aged years from when he last saw her. He had to admit it, Rose was going to age and die on him in the blink of an eye. And right after Rose died in front of him after slowly wilting away, in what would seem like to him only a few moments later, his child would die. She had only one heart and would most likely live and die like a human, Bad Wolf TNA marker or not. Nothing indicated that it did anything for her except stand as a placeholder for her so she didn’t collapse on herself genetically as she developed. The universe, if given just a short amount of time, would take away his family from him yet again. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. He would face eternity alone in his big lonely box with only the ghostly memories and their possessions to haunt him. And that terrified him. Death was the only thing he knew that would forever be his companion. 

The Doctor knew what he was considering was cowardice of the greatest kind but that was what he was, a coward. He always was. He had let himself become too close to the human race yet again and now not only would he end up so alone, but now Rose would end up like Sarah Jane. And it was all his fault. All because he hated loneliness did he, in his weak moments, seek out what could only ever be temporary relief from loneliness. That was why he was always on the move, Blan had been right, he dared not look back.

He now wished that he had never seen Sarah Jane again. If he had not she would always have been that lively young human that if he wanted, if the mood struck him, he could just swing by and see again whenever he wanted. Having the comfort that you could revisit if you wanted was his only solace to his goodbyes. Only by saying good-bye was it not good-bye forever. And now when he did see Sarah Jane again she was, he hated to admit it, easily half way through her life cycle. Maybe leaning closer towards nearing the end. How old did the average human live in this century again? He couldn’t see that happen to Rose or his child. So what was he proposing? Was he going to leave Rose behind so he didn’t have to see her and their child die? He didn’t know, all the possibilities of what could happen next were violently dancing around in his time sense. 

He was so disturbed and that was when he felt his child’s mind. Rather than a comfort it pained him, knowing that that little spark would leave his mind emptier than ever in the 80 or at best 90 years before she died of natural causes. The torrents of emotions were so strong that he did what was probably the cruelest thing that could have been done. He shut his mind off to his child. The act sickened him but it was done. There was a faint tendril to his daughter. If he shut her out completely that quickly than he would possibly risk terrible damage to her mind. In few weeks time he could wean her off him completely.

‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I’m not strong enough. I’m undeserving.’ He thought to his daughter and the universe. He was fixing himself to run again, where to? He did not yet know, but foolishly he reasoned that running away from this terminal problem with his family would diminish the pain he would feel later. Running, this is what he knew, this is what distracted him, and if he ran fast enough perhaps he could out run the pain long enough that it only bothered him once every century. Still Sarah Jane was clearly alright. Surely someone as fantastic as Rose would do fine without someone as cowardly, damaged, and horrible as him in their life. She’d have everything to gain without a half crazed, danger prone, alien genocidal maniac like him around. What sort of influence would he be for a child anyway? What had he been thinking? The last child of Gallifrey would be far more advantaged by the absence of his influence in her life. He was the reason for her displacement. He had no right to raise her, if she ever found out what he did, she’s probably hate him. These depressing thought however, were interrupted by yet another reminder of what an absolute jack ass he was in the form of Sarah Jane making more conversation.  
  


“It wasn't Croydon. Where you dropped me off, that wasn't Croydon.” Stated Sarah Jane, who could no longer stand the silent treatment from The Doctor. The Doctor knew right away what she was referring to. The place that he had dropped her off at, which apparently had not been the right place at all.   
  


“Where was it?” He asked sheepishly.  
  


“Aberdeen.” She replied. The Doctor had not only dumped her, he had dumped her off at the wrong country, Scotland. Well at least he got the time period right, Rassilon he was an arse.   
  


“Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?” Asked The Doctor, even though he knew it was not by any means next to Croydon. She would have had to have taken a bus and a train at least to get to Croydon from Aberdeen which was on the other side of the UK. He really hoped that she had some money on her then. Cringing at her having to hitch rides carrying all her stuff down, for about 700 kilometers. Sarah Jane just shook her head and as if to answer his prayers, K-9 came back to life!   
  


“Oh, hey. Now we're in business.” The Time Lord cheered as he rapped on the table and would have kissed the metal dog if he weren’t so rusty.   
  


“Master.” Said K-9 without any doubt.   
  


“He recognizes me.” Grinned The Doctor, happy for the distraction and that both Sarah Jane and now K-9 were so quick to be convinced that he was The Doctor.   
  


“Affirmative.” Stated the little metal dog. Full of confidence The Doctor commanded Rose to hand him the oil so that the analysis could begin. Concerned Rose handed The Doctor over the jar that contained the oil, but warned her husband,  
  


“I wouldn't touch it, though. That dinner lady got all scorched.” The Doctor was not worried in the least as his superior Time Lord biology would easily protect him from any mildly corrosive substance. He was certainly not afraid of being scorched by oil.   
  


“I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that.” Smirked The Doctor as he scooped up a finger full of the oil with his finger and smeared the sample onto K9's probe.   
  


“Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go.” Encouraged The Doctor of his former pet.   
  


“Oil. Ex ex ex extract. Ana ana analyzing.” Said the metal dog with a stutter as his circuits were still repairing themselves now that The Doctor had fixed his self repair systems, which ironically could not repair themselves. A design flaw but still an overall good product. Mickey however found his high pitched voice hilarious and giggled,  
  


“Listen to him, man. That's a voice.”   
  


“Careful. That's my dog.” Snipped the older woman, not liking anyone poking fun at her pet and best friend for years.  
  


“Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil.” Declared the little robot dog in its cute metallic voice. Rose had to admit that the robot, although very disco, was very amusing. She wondered why The Doctor didn’t still keep one around. Just imagine taking that to the dog park.   
  


“They're Krillitanes.” Stated The Doctor as he crossed his arms more tightly and pondered.   
  


“Is that bad?” Asked Rose, honestly wanting more information on the enemy at hand.   
  


“Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad.” Growled The Doctor with an angry look in his eyes.   
  


“And what are Krillitanes?” Questioned Sarah Jane.   
  


“They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks.” Said The Doctor going into lecture mode only for Rose to ask in a worried tone,   
  


“What're they doing here?”   
  


“It's the children. They're doing something to the children.” Hissed The Doctor, now very worried for the helpless students of the school. They would have to think out a game plan, as there was nothing more they could do until tomorrow morning when school was open. Only then could they possibly spot what the children were being used for. 

The Doctor had just a few more things on K-9 to fix. Then he'd go and move the TARDIS to safety. He didn’t want to leave a tool as valuable as the TARDIS around for the Krillitanes to poke at. While he busied himself with that however, towards the back of the shop near the rest room Mickey was giving Rose his final words on a certain subject for the night. 

  
“Shut up, Mickey. She's an old girlfriend, I'm his wife. We’re in completely different categories.” Grumbled Rose, tired of this argument already.

  
  
“Except she don't cross me that they broke up. You heard, He. Up and left her right in the middle. And she’s been stuck that way ever since. You heard her. Left her in Aberdeen instead of Croydon.” Warned Mickey to his Ex.

  
“Maybe things just weren't working out. That happens.” Noted Rose.

  
  
“Not by the way he's looking at her. Seen that look before. Both of em have unresolved issues written all over em.” Countered Mickey, who then continued,

  
  
“He might up and leave you, if it suits him. When I found you in that playground, you said he left you. If he was as close to this woman as both their looks are telling me. You might not want to let him out of your sights for too long. He might get cold feet again.”

  
  
“His feet are always cold… That’s not the point. He's not going to leave us behind.” Hissed Rose under her breath while holding a defensive pose with her arms across her womb.  
  
“Whatever ya say, Rose. But as I said easy on the chips.” Said Mickey back as Rose’s wariness was evident and he just wanted her to snap out of it and realize that her marriage might not be as sunshine and flowers as she’d like to think it was. Baby or no baby, they were ‘just’ humans and he a ‘highly evolved’ species. Why should Rose kid herself to think that he viewed them as any more than stray cats in the street when it came down to it. Like a person might up and abandon a pet, even if it was pregnant, because they had to move to a different situation, Mickey wouldn’t put it past the Time Lord. He had endured too many injurious remarks from The Doctor to expect him to turn over a new leaf over night. If things went south than he’d be the one left to pick up the pieces, and if he could guard her heart to be better prepared for the blow, then he’d give all the tough love he could. 

Seeing that Sarah Jane wanted to take K-9 out Mickey decided to offer his help and leave Rose alone to think. Helping haul the metal dog would be an escape from Rose’s denial and a chance to chat with ‘the other woman’ that Rose now had to contend with. Who knew he might be about to get Intel about how right his prediction might be. Not wanting to flat out ask about her past with The Doctor, he decided to bring up the tin dog as a segue to that venue.

Mickey helped heave K9 back in the boot of Sarah's car, he was rather enjoying the woman’s company as he was very hoping to avoid whatever lover’s quarrel he knew was coming up with The Doctor and Rose. Although he found amusement in pointing out flaws in Rose’s relationship with the Doctor, he did not enjoy seeing them fight. Which if the tension between them was any thicker, would have to be soon.

“So what's the deal with the tin dog?” Smiled Mickey to the older woman, who he had to admit, despite her years, was quite pretty.  
  


“The Doctor likes travelling with an entourage. Sometimes they're humans, sometimes they're aliens, and sometimes they're tin dogs. What about you? Where do you fit in the picture?” Asked Sarah Jane right back, wanting to fully understand the situation she had found The Doctor traveling in. Mickey laughed, to him it seemed obvious what role he played and wanting to keep the mood light, replied,  
  


“Me? I'm their Man in Havana. I'm the technical support. I'm….” Mickey then realized to his horror,

“Oh, my God... I'm the tin dog.” He stated and then sat down on the boot of Sarah Jane’s car to absorb that information. Sympathetically Sarah Jane patted the poor man’s arm.

Evil eyes watched as Rose and The Doctor finally came out of the coffee shop. There were questions that needed answering and Rose knew her husband’s usual behaviors at least. If you didn’t press him then than he wouldn’t say anything.

“So then why did you leave her?” Asked Rose, hoping that it was just a regular break up, just like her and Mickey. But considering the lip she had heard and had got from Sarah Jane, it was probably not that.

  
  
“I had to, I was called back home and humans weren’t allowed there.” Snipped The Doctor, clearly uncomfortable with reminiscing about the past.

“So why didn’t you come back for her afterwards? That sounds like it might not necessarily lead to a break up.”

“Things come up and I had to move on. And what do you mean break up?” Said The Doctor dismissively again.

“She clearly cares for you, Doctor. Did you… care for her too?” Asked Rose, not letting up or giving him a moment to breath. How people left their exes could tell you a lot about people, if they were the one to leave.

  
  
“Of course I cared for her. I care for all my companions.” Clipped back The Doctor, wanting Rose to get to the point.

“How many of us have there been travelling with you?” Asked Rose, honestly wanting to know more about his past. She had married him as John and that was all she had to go on. She needed more information on her husband’s past so that situation like this didn’t happen again. She felt she was privileged to it since she was actually his wife. She didn’t want these surprises with obviously burned woman to keep popping up. Especially if there was a chance that she might end up burned too.  
  


“Does it matter?” Asked The Doctor in a defensive tone. Rose felt slightly threatened not to continue by his tone, but harped back anyway,   
  


“Yeah, it does, if I'm just gonna end up the latest in a long line.”   
  


“As opposed to what?” Snapped The Doctor back reflexively, without thinking from her unwanted verbal assault. He wished that he had not said it as the look of disappointment and yes, maybe fear was evident in his wife’s eyes.   
  


“I thought you and me were finally past….and after we just finally had… well, I obviously got it wrong. Guess that bit doesn’t count for anything these days. Like any other bloke… I've been to the year five billion, right, but this? Now this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind. Is that what you're going to do to me? Do to your wife?”   
  


“No. Not to you.” Said The Doctor quickly, wanting the subject dropped. He did not need this now and what he said could be a lie or not, it didn’t matter right now, he just needed the questions about his past relationships and the future to stop.  
  


“But Sarah Jane? The way she’s behaving around me. You don't act that way unless you feel someone stole what you considered yours. You were that close to her once, and now you never even mention her. Why not? You were with her and you just up and left! I never thought you’d have me question our relationship again, but here it is. Is that what you do, tug us along and drop us when we get too close for comfort? Everyone has break ups, but how permanent is that ring on your finger to you, Doctor? Is my Aberdeen coming up?” The Doctor did not know what he wanted to do with Rose, what was the next step with the two of them. But he was not ready to do whatever that necessary step to ensure his survival was yet. Whatever he would ultimately have to do he was not yet ready to face it. But he did not want to scare her yet with what he might be forced to do. He just wanted to be left alone to think and this conversation was not what he wanted to have with Rose yet. So in a voice of reassurance that did not quite meet his eye The Doctor said,  
  


“I wouldn’t do that to you, I married you.”

“Yeah, not by choice! Well, John did but not this you specifically.” She retorted. Growing ever frustrated with how many negative emotions the whole situation was throwing on him, The Doctor noted,

“Well, I stayed with you afterwards. I didn’t walk away.” 

“Actually you did for a bit, but I didn’t walk away because I love you. I chased after you. What about you, Doctor? Are you having second thoughts again?” Asked Rose trying to sound tough and not afraid, although she was. Rose words cut him to his hearts and he was now debating over whether or not he was actually having second thoughts. It would have been much easier on him at least if Rose had been the one to walk away, then he wouldn’t have gotten so attached in the first place. Or at least he was kidding himself that what would have been the case. His leather self had been quite attached to Rose, which was why he thought he had to distance himself from her in the first place. 

He was still an ugly old monster who deserved no comfort of love anyway. The casing might be prettier looking but that didn’t change what he was inside, a hideous monster. If Rose had just rejected him like any normal human would have, then he wouldn’t have had to admit to what their relationship and the one that he would have with his child would mean for him. But Rose wasn’t any normal human, she was Rose, fantastic, and too good for him, Rose. She stayed with him and that was why he had known love again and that John Smith had made him a father. He had tasted unconditional love once again and he was going to have to lose it again as his punishment. In anguish he finally blurted out mournfully to Rose,

“Oh, Rose. Can’t you see that I’m already mourning your deaths?! You’re both going to be dead in the blink of an eye to me and then I’ll be lonely again!” Rose was at first taken aback by the uncharacteristically emotional outburst from The Doctor, but then she became angry. His actions had consequences on not only her. So she had the terminal disease of being human and so did their child, no one knows how long they have together, he could die and not regenerate too. Many people who had spouses that died earlier than expected would have still not changed a thing about spending the time they did have with that loved one. Why could The Doctor not just take what time they could have together and be grateful for it? True, she had the ‘advantage’ of probably being less likely to see him die permanently first, but losing him twice already was traumatic too. Frustrated beyond belief she growled back at him,

“So what? I have to be made to feel miserable over something that’s no fault of my own for the rest on my ‘short life’?! What about our child? I thought we were passed this Doctor?! You were so happy about our future together and now this? What changed so suddenly?” Though Rose had a suspicion that it had something to do with Sarah Jane showing up again in his life. 

“I woke up and finally saw reality!” Snapped The Doctor harshly, he probably would regret this later, but these were his raw fears and emotions finally allowed to break surface on what he had been tamping down for the last two months. ‘Future. What sort of future can a human hope to have with a mouse?’ The Doctor thought in earth creature life span terms.

“I had a cat once, it didn’t live very long, but the memories I have with that cat still makes me happy years later. There were more good times than bad by the end of its life. And if a cat parallel isn’t enough, I only knew my father for a few hours. You gave me that, even though it was against all the rules and I wouldn’t trade a minute of that precious time, even though he died in front of me twice. I’ll never regret having him for that short time.” Retorted Rose to her husband who she could see was trying to go back into his shell and close her off again, and she was not having it. What Rose said was not lost on him, but he still felt that he had a much larger stretch of time to endure than she did. And he had already lost more than she had, his whole species! How much more did the universe have to take from him, and how much more could he endure before he went mad? The last of the Time Lords going mad with grief and being loose on all time and space was a recipe for disaster.

“But I have to go on for centuries afterwards, there is no comparison and you can always get another cat. I can’t get another you! Just as you can’t get another Pete! You might be able to spend the rest of your life with me… but I can’t spend the rest of mine with you! And once this baby is born, it will grow old and die and I’ll have to watch that too. I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you…”  
  
“Say it, Doctor! You could say that word before.” Said Rose calling him out, but The Doctor just stiffened his lip.

  
“You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. And that’s the truth. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords.” The Doctor mourned, who was obviously fighting back the emotion in his voice and tears in his eyes as he solidified his message. The Doctor loved them too much. Rassilion, he missed the days of his leather self who just lived in the moment without a care to what the future might bring. That him ‘knew’ he didn’t have a future to lose and that had allowed him to get closer to Rose as he figured, at first, that nothing would come of it and Rose would leave of her own accord before he got too close. Problem now was that he could see a future with Rose, but the future was short and ended in the bitterest of pain and loneliness. He had let Rose and their child willingly into his hearts, and now thanks to that he had brought this difficult situation on himself. He needed to do something now or it would only hurt more later he determined. What that was he didn’t want to think of that moment. But that was not to be as Rose’s unrelenting questions and desire to not let this go unspoken forced the horrible ideas back to the surface. He had to stare those thoughts right in the face and they were ugly. And because of that he would ultimately have to do what he never wanted to do which was to hurt Rose. Yet that dark part of his brain kept asking him, 'Would it not be better to cut it off now, so that you would not have as many memories to haunt you?'

“Well then what do we have? What do we do?” Demanded Rose only slightly urged to drop the subject by how visually upset he was. But there wasn’t just her and him to consider in this equation anymore. And to put it in the most human of terms what he seemed to be considering was a divorce. 

“I honestly don’t know yet.” Said The Doctor leaving Rose again in an insecure limbo. Only this time it wasn’t just her who was in limbo, it was their child as well. Speechless, Rose did let the subject drop. She had nothing to say to that. She had played all her cards and they had not been enough. Once again her physiology was playing against her. To The Doctor she was just a daylily bloomed, withered and dead in a day. What was she to do? She wanted to cry at the cruelty of this situation. It was like telling someone you loved that had a terminal disease that you didn’t want to bother with them because they were dying. She had heard of such divorces, when the healthy one couldn't cope with their spouse dying. As if the pain of dying wasn't enough, they had to metaphorically tear out the heart too. And as if she could help that she was dying. 

For quite some time she had seen every day as a new day with The Doctor and new opportunities for adventure once, but now on reflection of The Doctor’s point of view after their argument, all she could see was everyday bringing herself closer to death and The Doctor to widowhood. She wanted to run away from this pain but she knew not where. She wanted to shout, but she didn’t know to whom. It hurt. The only thing keeping her from going mad in that moment as she watch her husband physically and emotionally start to walk away from her again, was the fact that children were in danger and needed their help. Rose cast aside her pain in light of the mission. She had children to help save.

  
Finch had been listening to the squabble between the two people they were observing on the ground. One word had caught his ears, Time Lord. This development could either mean good things or bad things depending on the Time Lords intentions. He could perhaps be recruited to aid in their victory if offered the right incentive. But Time Lord or not he had to be given a show of force. He did not want it to appear that his group was hiding for reasons of weakness or fear. He ordered his minion to put the Time Lord on his toes as The Doctor looked up to hear screaming hisses from the sky. The giant bat swooped down and The Doctor and Rose ducked for safety. The horrid thing then flew off having, it seemed, just wanted to ‘buzz the tower’. 

  
“Was that a Krillitane?” Questioned a startled Sarah Jane as she got up from her crouched position.   
  


“But it didn't even touch her. It just flew off. What did it do that for?” Asked Rose clearly shaken up by the strange creature. The Doctor had an idea of what was up, that was a warning.

The Doctor then made a dash back into the school to retrieve the TARDIS, telling everyone that he would meet them back at Sarah Jane’s home. Which he hoped was nearby. They could regroup at the school in the morning. Sarah Jane had made a protest about the danger of going back inside alone, but The Doctor had claimed that he would be in and out so fast that the Krillitane aliens would hardly notice. Rose had wanted to make objections to him going back into the school alone but he had already gone through the doors and soniced it shut. Mickey then shuttled Rose into the back seat of Sarah Jane’s car and they were off away from the school and its big bat creatures for the evening. Going back to work the next day was definitely going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:  
> PLEASE DON’T HATE ME, there is pay off! …eventually, I promise!


	15. The beginning of the Falling out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are children to save, monsters to fight, and marriages in danger.

Complications  
By The Plot Thinens

Chapter 15 – The beginning of the Falling out

Rose was devastated. Her usual morning sickness was bliss in comparison to the bomb her husband had dropped on her and their baby last night. She had hoped that the previous day had been just a nightmare, but it wasn’t. The blond had thought that they had moved past this but now she realized that The Doctor had just been hiding his concerns. She knew that their lifespan difference bothered him. But she didn’t think that he might be willing to shut her out for the rest of her short life because of it. All for the reason, it seemed, to spare himself whatever pain he thought could be spared by not being with her as a proper couple for the rest of that short life. How that logic worked was beyond her, but try getting that through his thick Time Lord skull. She had offered him an out before on New Orleans, why had he not taken it then? He never seemed like the type to bed em and dump em. If she wasn’t what he wanted then she wished he figured out sooner before he had led her on in bed. 

“The selfish git!” Rose half shouted and cried into the toilet as she vomited up what had to be the chips she had eaten last night. All this time he was just putting aside his fears and now that he’d seen the future. One of his dearest companions weathered by time, he got spooked and didn’t want to see that happen to her or their baby. She pictured how The Doctor must see her and her kind. Practically dead haggard corpses just milling about until they decayed and turned to dust. How putrid she must seem to an all Superior Time Lord.

“Well then how the F@ck did you stand having sex with me, you bastard!” Roared Rose as another wave of vomit came up and her stomach was empty. So now was the time he was going to decide he was getting too close? Was he kidding trying to back pedal now? Rose, now having finished her heaving, rolled over on to her back against the vanity and stared up at the ceiling.

“How dare he do this to me…to us!” Coughed Rose through angry tears as she placed her hand over her abdomen and tried to calm the mind of her child, who was very upset for her. ‘If he was going to have a kneejerk reaction like this once he saw…He saw Sarah Jane.’ Choked Rose. She had known all along that he would out live her and that they would have to address that. It just happened a lot earlier then she had expected. She would have hoped he’d at least wait until she started going gray. Their short ‘honeymoon’ stage, as it was, had ended. He saw the wrinkles on Sarah Jane and now he was noticing that Rose was aging. When she thought that she was becoming more mature, he just saw someone wasting away from disease. The Doctor was facing the reality that his wife and child would die long before him. Rose could not deny that, but if this was how it was going to end. And he was just going to reject all the wonderful times that he could have with her before her end. If he was just going to cut her off after having led her along for so long, and just after their recent night’s activities, it would have been better if he had just not asked her twice. 

Rather than go through this it would have been better for it all to be severed at once. Not that it wouldn’t have been any less devastating being left to muddle through things alone when she eventually realized that John’s baby was in fact The Doctor’s. ‘Oh God’ Rose thought, she hoped that if The Doctor was going to leave her that he would at least leave her with some material to help her guide a half alien telepathic baby. Thoughts of that matter than lead to more devastating thoughts, like how was she going to gently tell her daughter that ‘daddy isn’t around because the two of us aren’t going to live long enough for him’? 

Maybe it would be best not to tell her anything about her father at all. Or lie by omission about being part anything else than human and just tell her about John. Make up a story about how he died, how much he would have loved her, and would have really wanted to be with us if he could have. And if anything alien started happening to her as she grew up, just lie again, 'oh you are a telepath? Well that unique. I guess that just happens to us humans sometime. Perfectly normal and not alien at all.' Not that she wanted to be in a situation where she would have to lie to her child to save her pain until she was older, but what options would she be left with? She was beginning to understand why her mother had lied about her Dad so much to her. But at least Rose's father had not left her because he wanted to.... Boy was she getting ahead of herself and looking too far down the worst direction this could go. Anyway it was morning and Rose had better make an appearance soon, since they had a day of ‘storming the castle’ ahead of them.  
\---------------------------------------  
It had been an awkward car ride last night to Sarah Jane’s house to say the least. The tension in the car was so thick that Mickey thought he could cut it with a fork. Desperate for something to ease the tension, Mickey’s mind wander and then something struck him as funny.

“Oi, I just realized. Everyone in this car’s last name is Smith…well ‘cept for the tin dog. Funny, yeah? Guess it is a pretty common last name.” Laughed Mickey nervously. This however did not ease things as everyone in the car now started thinking of what implications that had. What was with The Doctor and the last name Smith? Rose wondered if subconsciously the woman driving had been The Doctor’s inspiration for the name when he had taken it as a human. As if reading Rose’s thoughts Sarah Jane laughed and said,

“Well it would be flattering if I could say that he borrowed it from me, but he was going by that name long before he met me. It did make traveling with him easier. It’s a common enough name and I think perhaps that’s why he used it. When you are investigating you want to be as ordinary as possible. Ironic since he’s nothing but unordinary.”

“Yeah people probably just thought you were husband and wife…” Trailed off Rose, wanting the subject to be over as it was making her feel rather common and unhappy as well. Looking out the car window and rolling her eyes she wondered if The Doctor just collected Smiths or had some fixation on the name. He fixated on a lot of odd things, so why not? Rose’s thoughts were then interrupted when the car finally pulled into the driveway of a very nice house that reminded her strongly of her home she had shared with John. What exactly had been ‘John’ an actual personality with thoughts and emotions? Or just an automaton whose tastes, memories, and even emotions were made up of a collection of the Doctor’s past experiences? That was bad thinking, Rose had to believe that John had been The Doctor, and those his true feelings. He was just limited as John with a cover story to keep him safe. Rose was then gripped with anger at The Doctor. How dare he make her question John’s love again! Or make her question his. And once more he was leaving her behind. They were back at square one again and unlike last time there was a child involved. If she stayed near him tonight she would just be getting the same treatment and she had had enough for the evening. She was not going to mope after him like a kicked puppy starving for the love it deserved. Rose decided that she needed the rest of the night off from The Doctor, but she wasn’t going to be driven from what she considered her home. That was why the second that the TARDIS touched down in Sarah Jane’s garden she made her way for it. The Doctor walked out to greet everyone with nervous cheerfulness as he knew that he had not exactly left on the most pleasant of notes. However, Rose just walked right past him into the TARDIS, never making eye contact and disappeared into its corridors. The snub had not gone unnoticed or unfelt by The Doctor. At least the TARDIS had no problem trying to comfort her, thought Rose as she reflected on the soothing nature of the TARDIS. Mickey and Sarah Jane had also witness the obvious exchange and both shared similar worries over the two. What could have gone on between the two of them while they were off alone that would warrant such behavior around each other? Whatever it was Mickey was sure it was The Doctor’s fault. However, Sarah Jane couldn’t help but feel that it had something to do with her. She wanted to be led to believe that this was something petty between the two of them but Sarah Jane had been a reporter for too long not to notice that this went beyond a jealous row of lovers.  
\--------------------------------------  
It had not been a very lovely night for The Doctor. Rose had not spent her sleep cycle in their room, or the nursery, or any room that he had walked through so far. The TARDIS was keeping her hidden and he didn’t know whether to thank or curse her for it. On one hand he really wanted to see Rose and try to somehow salvage their friendship/ relationship/ marriage. Whatever he was calling it now, he really was a horrible person. He wanted things to at least go back to a way of interacting around each other in comfort. But is that really all that you want? Asked another voice in his head. Did he want a relationship with Rose that was understood and accepted, without malice, on both sides as temporary? But in light of the circumstances, how was that even realistic? 

On the other hand if he did find Rose; he didn’t know what he would say to her. So in a way he was happy the TARDIS would not let him find her. He just hoped that she was okay. Well as okay as she could be. He felt bad enough for what, for his own survival’s sake, he was doing to his child. He had not the heart to completely sever the link to his child, but it was now diminished as he was trying to wean both himself and the baby off each other. He didn’t know what he wanted from the future between the two females in his life and he decided that before he had that figured out, it was cruel to have the baby’s mind be too dependent on his own. And the baby did not like it. She kept tapping at the door that was his more inner thoughts like a wet puppy might scratch at the door begging to be let in from the rain and cold. Mummy would have to do for now. He sent out a wave of apologies to the child, but it was little comfort to her. The Doctor just hoped that any additional stress could be spared for Mummy and baby.  
\--------------------------------  
Back at the school yard the pupils were gathering for what would no doubt be yet another average day at school. Little did they realize that a less than average group was heading toward the school with them. The Doctor and his companions had exited Sarah Jane’s car and were all geared for what might be a battle if the children were truly in danger. It was for that sake that Rose was being as civil as she could with her husband. She was after all still very angry with what they had discussed last night. She found that neither a night’s sleep nor puking her guts out had improved her mood any better on this subject.

“Rose and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside. Here, you might need this.” Remarked The Doctor as he handed his Sonic screwdriver over to Sarah Jane without thinking about it. Rose was obviously irritated that he had given it to Sarah Jane and not her as she had been holding out her hand for it. 

“Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside.” Ordered The Doctor to a now stunned and confused Mickey. 

“Just stand outside?” Asked Mickey incredulously. 

“Here, take these you can keep K9 company.” Said Sarah Jane a bit sympathetically, but if it was more for Mickey or K-9, Mickey could not tell as she tossed him the keys. Mickey caught the keys and watched the back of his compatriots walk on towards the school. Then without even so much of a look back The Doctor suggested that he leave the window open a crack. 

“But he's metal!” Shouted back Mickey obviously in disbelief that a robot dog could suffocated in a closed up car. The Doctor then clarified that he did not mean that he should to leave the window open for K-9 but for himself and Mickey was once more embarrassed into silence. But that silence was stewing into resentment as Mickey opened the driver’s seat, got inside and with more force than necessary slammed the door of Sarah Jane’s car shut. 

“Stop being so mean to him.” Hissed Rose to her husband, not in the mood to see The Doctor mistreating her friend when he was already on thin ice with her. Not that he seemed to care or probably even noticed at the moment. He was so alien sometimes it was scary. And not alien as in from another planet, as in either ignoring or oblivious to the damage he did to other’s feelings. The Doctor looked somewhat apologetic from her harsh tone and Rose, seeing that they were coming up on the enemy territory that was the front doors to the school, asked, 

“What're you going to do?” 

“It's time I had a word with Mister Finch.” Replied The Doctor. Rose knew that look in his eyes. That was the look of conflict brewing as an option for engaging an enemy. She had seen it before in her blue eyed Doctor and again on Christmas day. It worried her and despite how angry she was with him, she stated,

“Don’t do anything daft. You need to watch yourself. And we can’t risk the children being put in danger.”

“I don’t want violence just as much as you. It’s all in Finch’s court now.” Stated The Doctor resolutely.  
It didn’t take long for The Doctor to find Finch. He wanted to be found and followed. This was why The Doctor now found himself at the school’s indoor swimming pool with Finch on the other side. Or rather he might call it a puddle, since the one in the TARDIS was so much bigger. 

“Who are you?” Questioned The Doctor breathing authority and confidence. Politely the man who The Doctor knew to be an alien answered,

“My name is Brother Lassa. And you?” 

“The Doctor... Since when did Krillitanes have wings?” Replied The Doctor in a much clipped voice that said no nonsense. 

“It's been our form for nearly ten generations now. Our ancestors invaded Bessan. The people there had some rather lovely wings. They made a million widows in one day. Just imagine.” Said Brother Lassa quite proudly. Well that explained the bat wings, thought The Doctor as his very large Time Lord brain tried its hardest not to imagine a million widows made in one day. If this lot could proudly say that, then The Doctor feared that what they were doing at this school was as far removed from benign as it got.

“And now you're shaped human.” Question The Doctor to distract himself from the grim information.

“A personal favorite, that's all.” Smiled back Finch. The Doctor then questioned as to the form of the other of Finch’s compatriots. 

“My brothers remain bat form. What you see is a simple morphic illusion. Scratch the surface and the true Krillitane lies beneath. And what of the Time Lords? I always thought of you as such a pompous race. Ancient, dusty senators, so frightened of change and chaos. And of course, they're all but extinct. Only you. The last.” Noted Finch as he grew ever closer to The Doctor. The Doctor was not intimidated, far from it and demanded to know what plan the Krillitanes were making. 

“You don't know.” Asked Finch astonished that such a superior species had not guessed yet. The Doctor pointed out that obviously if he knew he would not be asking. However, Finch had no desire to make things easier for The Doctor and challenged him to show how clever he was by working it out on his own. Finch was now taking his leave, but The Doctor said over his shoulder,

“If I don't like it, then it will stop.” This was not an idle threat and although Finch understood that the Time Lord could cause trouble, he was not in the custom of seeing them actually do anything about anything. 

“Fascinating. Your people were peaceful to the point of indolence. You seem to be something new. Would you declare war on us, Doctor?” Questioned the alien bat. The Doctor was in a tired mood to say the least. He was tired of long dragged out wars, so much to the point that he might consider swift merciless action in hopes that if it were over quickly enough he might feel less guilt. He also had the added stress of knowing that he was not on what one would call good terms with his wife, he had spent his night miserable, and his desire to protect the human children was causing old flames of war to come lapping up from the depths of his tired and ancient soul.

“I'm so old now. I used to have so much mercy. You get one warning. That was it.” Warned The Doctor. However Finch in all confidence assured The Doctor, 

“But we're not even enemies. Soon you will embrace us. The next time we meet, you will join with me. I promise you.” The Doctor was not impressed but he was now more determined to find out what the Krillitanes were up to. Sadly this alien as most did, seriously underestimated his capacity and desire to protect the human race and especially its children. He had seen enough children die already to let it happen on his watch again to any species. He watched Finch leave thinking himself already the victor.

“Surveillance. If you ask me, it's just another way of saying go sit at the back of the class with the safety scissors and glitter. That'd be me talking to a metal dog, then.” Grumbled Mickey to the tin dog as he begrudgingly sat in Sarah Jane’s car watching nothing happen to the front of the school building. Maybe last night he had run like a scared little boy. But it was day time now and that had given him, at least he thought enough courage to do something useful besides keep a metal dog company. It wasn’t even switched on! He wondered what Rose was up to and if that daft bloke of a Doctor was keeping her safe because that was his bloody job! To keep Rose safe and if that did not happen, Time Lord or no Time Lord, Mickey was going to make The Doctor pay. He wasn’t a fool, he knew that Rose was upset and The Doctor was likely the cause of it. His relationship with Rose had not been perfect, more often than not he neglected her or rather just took her as granted, but he never made her cry as much as The Doctor did. He wondered how much longer until Rose decided that the crying wasn’t worth it anymore. And on that day and only that day did he think that The Doctor if he had any decency at all would see what he voluntarily lost. And Mickey would have to strongly fight the urge not to laugh at the alien. 

Inside the school’s IT classroom for maths, Rose and Sarah Jane were trying to figure out literally how to crack into the computers there. Sarah was getting so frustrated with trying to pull off the casing that she wouldn’t have minded taking a hammer to them. Sarah Jane had the added struggle of being unable to find out how to use The Doctor’s new Sonic Screwdriver. Rose just sat there and watched the woman keep waving it and pushing buttons on it without taking any regard into settings.

“It's not working.” Growled Sarah Jane in frustration as she was hunched over some rather fancy looking computer casings. Rose decided if they were only going to make progress if she took over for the moment. 

“Give it to me.” Ordered Rose of the older woman. Sarah Jane handed over the Sonic but not without letting out her frustration, 

“Used to work first time in my day.” Rose got down on her hands and knees which was getting a little annoying now thanks to her passenger, but not enough to slow her down. Rose set the screwdriver to its proper setting and in a condensing voice said through her teeth,

“Well, things were a lot simpler back then.” Rose thought of what little technology there was by comparison today in the mostly analog world that Sarah would have spent her prime in and could only imagine how much more blown away Sarah Jane would have been by Time Lord technology. Rose’s concentration was then interrupted by Sarah Jane talking again. 

“Rose, I’ve noticed some obvious tension in the air lately. Not just around you and I but The Doctor as well. Can I give you a bit of advice?” Declared Sarah Jane. Rose rolled her eyes and came back up from under the table having not been able to successfully open the casing of the computer with the usual tech lock pick setting on the Sonic. This did not put her in a good mood. She was not getting the job done and she had an audience.

“I've got a feeling you're about to.” Rose stated plainly, her disinterest palpable. She did not want advice from her husband’s ex right now. Sarah Jane saw a lot of her own youth in Rose and she honestly did not want her to meet with the same disappointments that she herself had faced down the road. 

“I know how intense a relationship with The Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding.” 

Rose did not want to deal with this right now, not when she was having relationship problems with her husband. Yeah she knew how intense a relationship was with The Doctor, if it got any tenser she’d be tearing her own hair out.

“I don't feel threatened by you, if that's what you mean.” Rose answered back quickly hoping that would end the lecture, but it did not. 

“Right. Good. Because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off.” Noted Sarah Jane. Rose had to fight off the urge to roll her eyes at this. She wasn’t worried that The Doctor would run off with Sarah Jane, quite the opposite, but to her at least it was clear that Sarah Jane had something she wanted to settle with The Doctor. If Sarah Jane thought that The Doctor might offer to take her along with him again after what The Doctor had said last night, then she was sadly mistaken. Sarah had to want to start up a relationship again with The Doctor, who wouldn’t want to? The Doctor was the amazing other worldly being with a million ways to seduce you besides his looks. Who could resist the call of The Doctor? And who wouldn’t eventually beg to be taken back when faced with the humdrum of existence on Earth without him in your life? Rose hadn’t been able to and he had given her plenty of chances to reconsider. Rose thought what Sarah was saying was baloney and fueled by all the frustration and discomfort from this whole situation, she said, 

“No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?” Sarah Jane was taken slightly aback by the accusation.

“I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth.” Harped back Sarah, feeling annoyed that the woman was giving her such a foul response when she was just trying to help. 

Rose might be losing her husband but she had not lost him yet. And as long as they were still married than she was going to fight to protect that connection and no one was taking it away from her but The Doctor. Rose wasn’t going to be shown up by an uppity woman who thought just because she travelled with The Doctor first that it made her the authority over his own wife on life with The Doctor. Rose had bared her scars too. So like the caged and threatened wild wolf Rose struck back.

“The thing is, when you two met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you.” Said Rose in a snarky voice. 

“I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe.” Snapped back Sarah Jane as she defended herself against the younger woman. She might be married to The Doctor but that didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t still green to time and space travel. The wise traveler always takes the advice of those who had gone before and to Sarah Jane, Rose was just being childish. 

“Try me.” Challenged Rose not threatened. 

“Mummies.” Declared Sarah Jane.

“I've met ghosts.” Answered back Rose as if it were nothing. 

“Robots. Lots of robots.” Stated Sarah Jane as it was becoming obvious that they would be volleying back and forth their resumés of alien and supernatural encounters survived. 

“Slitheen, in Downing Street.” Announced Rose, unimpressed. Robots in this year did amazing enough stuff when compared to what they did on Earth when Sarah Jane must have started traveling. 

“Daleks!” Shouted back Sarah Jane, getting in Rose’s face as she brought up the memory of one of the most fearsome creatures that she had ever seen and on occasion still haunted her dreams. 

“Met the Emperor.” Retorted Rose as if it were nothing. 

“Anti-matter monsters.” Sarah shot back growing ever angrier.

“Body snatching alien monsters.” Declared Rose recalling her first encounter with aliens back when her husband was still just the human, John Smith. Sarah Jane did think that was sort of impressive so she shouted out a time traveling classic, 

“Real living dinosaurs.” 

“Real living werewolf.” Said Rose just as quickly, convinced that a supposed mythical creature’s existence was more impressive than a scientifically proven one’s. Sarah Jane was not going to lose the contest of most well traveled to a woman not even half her age and pulled out the grand daddy of all mythical creatures,

“The Loch Ness Monster!” Shouted back Sarah Jane putting emphasis on each word. Rose was very impressed and dropped all of her animosity as her eyes widened. 

“Seriously?” She question, really wanting confirmation that it did actually really exist. Sarah Jane had to be having her on. If it did really exist then she really wanted to see it! Who didn’t want to see The Loch Ness Monster?! This effectively killed the tension between the two of them and they laughed. Rose then let out a puff of air and a sigh.

“Listen to us. It's like me and my mate, Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over The Doctor. And I’m not even sure he thinks I’m worth fighting for anymore.” Said Rose in a voice that touched Sarah Jane’s heart.

“Rose…” gasped out Sarah Jane.

“You know it wouldn’t be such a big…no it would still be a big deal regardless, to find out that your husband of less than a year, is possibly thinking about leaving you. But when you have a child involved too...” Rasped out Rose.  
“Did The Doctor tell you that?!” Questioned Sarah Jane, she knew that the two of them had had an argument last night, but she never would suspect something this serious. Sure The Doctor had left her behind. She knew that he was capable of that. But Rose was different. She was his wife and she was carrying his child to boot. And Sarah Jane just could not believe that a man as wonderful as The Doctor would walk out on his own child. There had to be a mistake.

“Not in such words, but our future together is suddenly in question. Didn’t even see it coming, because I thought we were past the worst of it. Now I find out he was just putting his misgivings on ice.” Rose had to admit as she stared at her feet. After all, she could still see them. 

Rose finally looked up at Sarah Jane after hanging her head so low and saw a look of absolute understanding and pity from the woman before her. 

“Well nothing is written in stone yet. So we should press on and worry when we are in a safer situation.” Comforted Sarah Jane.

Sarah Jane knew that this was indeed a very big matter but then again so was the mission that they were supposed to be running. There would be time for this later but right now they had to stay alert and ready for trouble while in enemy territory. Rose wanted many things right now but pity was not one of them. She appreciated but did not want it. Instead she decided that a joke at The Doctor’s expense might lift the grim mood she had created.

“With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, what? And he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?” Asked Rose wanting to know that it wasn’t just her who had been getting such a vibe off The Doctor on the occasion. 

“All the time. Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?” Giggle Sarah Jane sensing the need to change topics. 

“Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?” Rose laughed and Sarah Jane joined in. Rose needed this so badly, she had been in such a depressing mood over The Doctor today. It seemed only fair that he pay his dues and be the source of her amusement for a bit. So Rose laughed heartily at the idea of her husband possibly being a mechaphile. The Doctor finally made his appearance and walked into a very insecure situation. Two women laughing at him. Ignoring this fact he inquired into their progress only to be greeted with another wave of laughter at his expense. Now he felt very timid and attempting to gain command of the room stated,

“What? Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these.” ‘Yeah you just love getting inside a machine’s casings, don’t you?’ Thought Rose to herself. Rose burst into more laughter and infectiously Sarah Jane followed until the two were laughing at The Doctor so hard that they needed to support each other so neither fell over. Now sounding closer to a little boy complaining about not wanting to be picked on by the girls, The Doctor whined, 

“What? Stop it! What are you laughing at?!” 

“You!” Snorted Sarah Jane. She then walked up to him and smacked him on the arm. Not very hard enough to bruise, but enough that The Doctor had to grip his arm and quite pathetically whine,

“Ow, what was that for?” 

“We’ll see, you might get worse later.” Threatened Sarah Jane who then returned to Rose’s side. The Doctor looked quite afraid and Rose was now laughing at how easily Sarah Jane had brought the, oh so impressive Time Lord to acting like a little boy on the playground. The laughter only stopped when a group of children entered the room, which Rose then quickly got rid of by telling them to go to South Hall for class. 

The Doctor was covered in wires once again. He had them looping around his neck, his arms and his shoulders as he tried to get inside the CPU of the main computer in the room. He was growing ever more frustrated as it was becoming clear that the Sonic screwdriver was useless.

“I can't shift it.” He growled. Sarah Jane was genuinely surprised that even The Doctor was having trouble like they had been earlier. Which actually made her feel much better about her failing to do so earlier.

“I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!” She declared in astonishment. 

“Anything except a deadlock seal. There's got to be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?” He pondered. Then as if by magic all the screens in the classroom left their screensaver mode and began to display odd symbols.

“You wanted the program? There it is.” Stated Sarah Jane as The Doctor looked over the large main screen at the head of the class trying to figure out what was going on. 

“Some sort of code.” He said mostly to himself.

“No. No, that can't be.” He then gasped out as it started to make sense.

Outside of the school Mickey sat bored out of his mind as he watched the school for any signs of trouble. Trouble came in the form of a child trying to open the front doors. 

“They've taken them all!” Shouted the boy to Mickey who he spotted in the car. Mickey could not hear what he said and stepped out to get closer. 

“They've taken all the children!” warned the boy as Mickey gestured for him to wait a moment. Mickey had to do something and hopefully that mad little tin dog could help. Climbing back into the car Mickey frantically pushed buttons on K-9’s back.  
“Come on, I need some help.” Shouted Mickey as he hit K-9 on the head out of frustration. Slowly K-9 started to turn on and in his funny mechanical voice declared,

“System restarting. All primary drives functioning.” Mickey let out a sigh of relief and said,

“You're working! Okay, no time to explain. We need to get inside the school. Do you have like, I don't know, a lock picking device?”

“We are in a car.” Announced the robot dog. Stating the obvious wasn’t going to help him get into that building, maybe the robot had something else besides a lock pick.

“Maybe a drill attachment?” He questioned but again K-9 stated that they were in a car.

“Fat lot of good you are.” Groaned Mickey who then as if the light had finally dawned on him stated,

“Wait a second. We're in a car.” Mickey shouted for the boy to get back and after buckling up began to set up the car to ram the door open. He could be a bit action hero too if it meant helping to save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Trouble is brewing now.


	16. Bats in our belfry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is upset. The Doctor is conflicted. Sarah is wise. Mickey is annoyed. K-9 is best boy.

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens

Chapter 16 – **Bats in our belfries**

“The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm.” Stated The Doctor back as he stood in the IT classroom. 

  
“The Skasis what?” asked Sarah Jane clearly not following just like old times.   
  


“The God maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control.” Explained The Doctor still in disbelief that the alien bats were attempting this.  
  


“What, and the kids are like a giant computer?” Asked Rose wondering what part the children had to play in this then. Why would aliens need the help of a supposed under evolved species like humans to crack alien math?

“Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer.” Answered The Doctor. Rose was shocked by this because she had also partaken in the food at the canteen and hence her child too!   
  


“But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them.” Said Rose in a very worried voice, what did that mean for herself and the baby? Being cleverer wasn’t a problem for her, but what if it had any negative affect on a person who ate it or her baby in exchange for that cleverness? The Doctor was equally as concerned as to any side affect and just to make sure he asked Rose,

  
“What's fifty nine times thirty five?”

  
“Two thousand and sixty five… Oh, my God.” Said Rose as if it were reflex. She knew that she was clever but not a math genius clever. And she knew that answer was right, she just knew it. The Doctor had noticed the baby was having a jump in brain activity, but he had assumed that it was normal, although with a pregnancy such as this one it probably would have been safer to assume nothing. But he had thought that the baby was just having a growth spurt mentally. He was really starting to hate how the looming process, that his species used for making children, had made him so inexperience with what a natural Gallifreyan gestation would be like.

  
“But why use children? Can't they use adults?” Questioned Sarah Jane of The Doctor. She assumed that adults would have more knowledge to start with and be more useful.   
  


“No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls.” The Doctor explained in a grim voice. And as if an icy chill settled on the room the Headmaster himself entered.   
  


“Let the lesson begin. Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it.” Declared Finch. Rose took a step back, feeling instinctually that the monster in that human form would eat her and her baby if it had the chance. Equally as unnerved Sarah Jane put a protective arm on Rose and watched the exchange.  
  


“Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are.” Snarked back The Doctor obviously not amused with what Finch was suggesting. Finch was amused by this statement especially from this Time Lord that was supposedly so different from the rest of his species.  
  


“You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good.”   
  


“What, by someone like you?” Mocked The Doctor.   
  


“No, someone like you.” Rasped Finch as he continued in a seductive tone,

“The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a God at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords… reborn.” The Doctor was shaken at his core. It was true it could come to pass. It was there just beckoning him with the promise to save everyone and everything and place that he never could. Sarah Jane knew The Doctor’s desire to save those that he had failed to. She had seen the hurt when he failed, the struggled that he went through. And now he was alone and the last of his kind, possibly the loneliest being in the universe. He might be tempted, but as he had said before so long ago, did he have the right to make that decision? He had not felt that he had the right to play God and destroy the genesis of the Daleks before when he had the chance in the past, and certainly did not have that right to play God now.  
  


“Doctor, don't listen to him. Warned Sarah Jane, but Finch countered by turning his attention to the two humans in the room.  
  


“And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die.” He then turned to The Doctor and with what sounded like concern on his voice said to him,

“Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us.” The Doctor reflected on this. If they could become Gods and crack the universal theory then he would have the power to save his dead planet. And if he had the power to do that, then his struggle right now over Rose and her terminal illness of being human would be pointless. Stopping a human from aging would be easy. Rose would never have to die and leave him alone and he would never have to see his child die either. He could have his family, his friends, his species for all time unchanged and undisturbed. Safe forever. Just a happily ever after that never ended.   
  


“I could save everyone.” He stated simply as the magnitude of it crashed over him. He thought of every friend he had watch die, every person so undeserving of death, every innocent life ruined, he could bring them back. How wonderful a thought that was. Finch seeing that he was winning confirmed this and the Doctor said,  
  


“I could stop the war.” Almost not believing his words, it was like a too perfect dream, a guilt free life. He could make the Daleks a peaceful race, not stop the war, but make it so that it never existed. Sarah Jane saw that they were losing him to this mad fantasy and shouted,  
  


“No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends.” The Doctor’s cloudy haze lifted and he realized that Sarah Jane was right. To accomplish this then he would have to destroy all that he knew and loved anyway to remake it. If he loved the universe so much then by redefining it was the same as rejecting it. So how could he claim to love it or anyone in it then? It was as treacherous as it was seductive and driven mad with anger he picked up one of the lab chairs and hurled it at the big screen at the front of the classroom, smashing it to bits.   
  


“Out!” Shouted The Doctor to his companions, knowing that he had just declared war on the Krillitanes. They ran.

Mickey floored it and drove Sarah's car through the glass doors creating a much needed exit. He really hoped that Sarah Jane wouldn’t mind the damage, but that was a fleeting thought as he had the children to be concern about. And instructed the boy to lead him to the problem as a screeching sound painfully echoed off the walls of the school. Finch was summoning his brothers who threw off their disguises to fly to his aid.

Mickey and the boy that he learned was called Kenny, met up with The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Rose as they rounded for the bottom of the staircase.

  
“What is going on?” Asked Mickey in confusion. But his answer did not come in a verbal form, but in the form of scary bat creatures racing down the narrow halls toward them. The Krillitanes were coming fir them! As fast as they could, The Doctor and his companions raced down the hallway leading to the canteen. Concern that Rose was falling behind The Doctor grabbed onto her hand and pulled her along before busting open the doors to the canteen. The Doctor raced to the back door only to find it locked and reached for his sonic screwdriver, but Finch and his brothers had already caught up with them. Finch did not look pleased.

“Are they my teachers?” Asked the boy Kenny in disbelief.   
  


“Yeah. Sorry.” Apologized The Doctor as he took stock of how many Krillitanes were now in the room.  
  


“We need The Doctor alive. As for the others? You can feast.” Said Finch uncaring, he was through dealing with humans. The Krillitanes swooped in and everyone hid under the tables as best they could while the bat creatures got ever closer to landing a kill. Rose threw a chair not wanting to be taken without a fight while Mickey dodged claws. One Krillitanes got especially close to Rose and The Doctor hurled a chair at it which temporally made it back off but it was already coming around for another swoop. It looked as if all was lost when suddenly a laser beam shot down one of the bats. Finch screamed in fury. It was,  
  


“K9!” Shouted Sarah Jane in relief that her faithful dog had come to help.   
  


“Suggest you engage running mode, mistress.” Declared the metal Dog to his owner. Sarah Jane thought that this was a wonderful idea and The Doctor shouted for everyone to leave. Quickly while the bats were distracted by K-9 the humans followed The Doctor back out the way they came into the hallways.   
  


“K9, hold them back!” Ordered The Doctor as he closed the doors and sealed them shut with his sonic. The Doctor faintly heard his metal dog announce through the door,  
  


“Affirmative, master. Maximum defense mode.” The Doctor didn’t think that K-9 could keep the bats occupied for long so he began trying to think of a plan to save all the humans left in the buildings.

The closest room to the canteen was the Physics laboratory and as soon as everyone was piled in The Doctor soniced the door shut. They all then sat down and waited while they tried to think of a plan. The Doctor racked his mind for any means to fight off the Krillitanes. They had changed so much that a weakness was hard for him to think of and then it hit him. Rose had told him that one of those big old bats had been burned by the oil in the kitchen!

“It's the oil. Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it! They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchens?” Asked The Doctor of his wife.   
  


“Barrels of it.” Answered Rose just as the Krillitanes began battering at the flimsy wooden door.   
  


“Okay, we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey…” Stated The Doctor as they watched the door slowly being broken apart.  
  


“What now, hold the coats?” Asked Mickey condescendingly. The Doctor had a very important job for Mickey and he was going to give snark now? Suppose his early treatment of Mickey didn’t help, thought The Doctor, but he continued,   
  


“Get all the children unplugged and out of the school.” The Doctor then began to talk to himself out loud and said,

“Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?” Without any cue Kenny ambled over to the fire alarm and set it off with his elbow. The noise of the alarm blared through the halls and the screams of the Krillitanes were heard. Kenny had guessed right and the bats large ears did not like the sound. Well The Doctor didn’t like it either but he, unlike the Krillitanes, could block it out. Grinning at the boy’s cleverness he threw open the door and The Doctor and his human companions raced past the crippled aliens.

Down the stairs they raced past the canteen entrance and on to the kitchen but not before K9 had managed to catch up with his group again. 

**“** Master.” Stated K9 plainly as The Doctor ran past him. Slowing down a bit and looking back the shouted encouragement to his dog,

“Come on, boy. Good boy.”

Mickey was not having an easy time of things either he was trying to get all the children out of the building which was not as easy as he thought it would be.

“Okay, listen everyone. We've got to get out of here.” He shouted only to be ignored by the children hard at work on their computers. He even tried waving his hands in front of their faces to be ignored still. What was he to do? That was when the idea dawned on him. Pull the plug! He began to follow the computer power wires back to their source.

  
  


The Doctor tried his sonic screwdriver on the barrels of oil only to find that it was no use.   
  


“They've been deadlock sealed. Finch must've done that. I can't open them.” He growled.   
  


“The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing.” Stated the metal dog, getting everyone’s attention.   
  


“Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me.” Rose gave The Doctor a look but his eyes insisted that it would be fine.

“Be careful.” She said before following Kenny and Sarah Jane out the back doors of the kitchen.

Mickey had followed the computer power cords and now he had finally located the source back to a single wall switch. He them pulled it out. It seemed too easy but it worked. The computers turned off and the children were free of their trances. If The Doctor was so smart then why didn’t he just think to kill the power? What an idiot thought Mickey as stood up.

“Everyone get out. Now!” Shouted Mickey to the confused children who now obeyed. Mickey then ran off to every classroom and did the same for the rest of the children.   
  


“Come on, move! Let's go! Let's go!” Shouted Mickey as he ferried all the children to safety. Sensing that the children were free and knowing that there were far too many of them to all kill without a few getting away, the Krillitanes paused to disguise themselves as humans again. If the authorities came it would be their word against a mad teacher, a lunch lady, an old reporter, and a man who broke in.

To best help K9, The Doctor lined up the oil barrels for K9 to shoot at. This way he could get several barrels with one shot if he wanted. The laser’s reaction to the oil would not only harm any Krillitanes who came near it, it would also release a chain reaction in the oil that would easily blow up the building.  
  


“Capacity for only one shot, Master. For maximum impact, I must be stationed directly beside the vat.” Explained K9. The Doctor now realizing what the little robot had planned got down to his level and told K9,   
  


“But you'll be trapped inside.”   
  


“That is correct.” The little metal dog said. The Doctor told his old friend that he could not let him do that but K9 insisted,

“No alternative possible, Master.” The Doctor had to agree with his old pet. No other way to stop these aliens without putting the children in danger existed.  
  


“Goodbye, old friend.” Said the Doctor resolutely. The little robot said his goodbye to his Master as well.  
  


“You good dog.” The Doctor said sweetly and affectionately to his old friend rubbing his metal head just like any dog. Hoping that perhaps his own child might have a pet as loyal as K9 someday.   
  


“Affirmative.” Announced K9. The Doctor got up and left K9 to his plan. He opened the back door to the kitchen and sealed it shut. Only to find Sarah Jane waiting for him and her dog. Apparently Rose was helping Mickey pull the kids as far away from the building as possible.

**“** Where's K9?” Asked Sarah in confusion and worry from noting the absence of her loyal metal companion.   
  


“We need to run.” Said The Doctor plainly without answering her.  
  


“Where is he? What have you done?!” Demanded Sarah Jane as The Doctor pulled her behind him.

“Come on, guys! Let's go, let's go! Run!” Shouted Mickey as the last of the children cleared the building. Safely removed from the school just in time because then there was a loud KaBOOM and half the school was gone. Greeted with the sight of their school exploding the children rejoice as school papers rained down on them. However their joy was a stark contrast to the pain Sarah Jane was feeling right at that moment. Rose was frantically looking through the crowd for The Doctor and to her relief finally spotted him with Sarah Jane. She didn’t need to hear what happened to know what happened. Sarah Jane was mourning her robot dog. Thinking it best to hang back for the time and let The Doctor comfort his old friend, Rose went over to Mickey.   
  


“I'm sorry.” Said The Doctor mournfully, he knew how much K9 meant to Sarah Jane. She was trying to keep a stiff upper lip about it but as she thought about her poor little dog melting somewhere in that fire she found it impossible to stop herself from shaking.  
  


“It's all right. He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine, really.” Said Sarah Jane trying to hold back her emotions before bursting into tears. It was not good she had not the strength to be strong now. The Doctor tried to comfort her but Sarah Jane was inconsolable. 

The one being that had always been with her through all her years after The Doctor had left her behind was gone forever. A regular dog lived about 10 or 15 years if you were lucky, but K-9 had been a part of her life since 1981. She didn't know how she was going to function without her little metal dog in her life. Even when he had broken down, he was still there in her home and she knew him so well she could pretend to know exactly what he would say. When he broken down at least he was still physically there, now she didn't have even that.

She had thought that she finally had K-9 back after his repairs had been made, but he was taken away from her just a day later. K-9 was her constant in life. How was she going to stand the quiet now? How was she going to stand not hearing him rolling along on the floor? Or bumping into things because he was a clumsy boy? Or the silence without his gears turning, and his servos switching? It would be so quiet in her little house, now and forever without him. So very quiet. She didn't know if she would be able to take it. The closest thing she had left to family was gone and she was now very very much alone in her journey called life. The Doctor drew Sarah Jane into a hug and she cried. He might have been made of metal but to Sarah Jane he was as real as any dog.

It was sometime later after the fire brigade had shown up, but The Doctor and his companions had obviously not waited for that. Sarah Jane had however stayed behind and had to make up a story about a gas explosion and breaking the locked doors down with her car to get the children out. It would make for an interesting story and she wouldn’t be surprised if UNIT got involved somehow. Anything where her name came up they had always investigated in the past. Maybe they would do it again. In fact, she was sure that UNIT was probably still her best reader. Anyway she had a meeting with The Doctor. The Doctor had relocated the TARDIS from her home to Belle Vue Park. ‘A lovely spot to meet anyone’, she thought as Sarah Jane walked up and The Doctor stepped out. She smiled softly to him and he offered her a cup of tea. Sarah Jane accepted and walked inside the TARDIS, up a ramp of all things.   
  


“You've redecorated.” She said as she looked around the lovely organic-like room. Almost the perfect combination of organic and machine though a bit dusty from years of use.   
  


“Do you like it?” Questioned The Doctor very much wanting her approval.   
  


“Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do.” Said Sarah Jane as she surveyed the room around her and touched one of the coral struts.   
  


“I love it.” Smiled Rose as she lovingly patted the alien ship that she saw as being a part of her family. The TARDIS was always there for her even when The Doctor was not.   
  


“Hey, you what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?” Grinned Sarah Jane, wanting to see Rose do the calculator trick she had done earlier.  
  


“No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded.” Smiled Rose in relief that she wasn’t consuming a possibly harmful alien substance anymore. The Doctor had also noticed this. The connection that he still allowed to be between himself and his daughter seemed to hint that she was developing normally again. Though he had, as casually as he could, ran a sonic scan on Rose and the baby earlier while they had been moving the TARDIS. He still cared that they were healthy and safe, he just didn’t know if he was the one best suited for the job since it ultimately meant him watching them slowly deteriorate.   
  


“But you're still clever. More than a match for him. A fool would get on your bad side.” Stated Sarah Jane.  
  


“You and me both.” Smiled Rose, she then looked to The Doctor. They had not had time to chat about much of anything on the way back to the TARDIS as far as their future went, but they had talked. Rose worried for Sarah Jane who had lost so much that it seemed cruel to Rose to leave her behind. Rose had insisted that if Sarah Jane wanted to travel with them that she be allowed to come. The Doctor who felt guilt for taking K-9 away from Sarah Jane and for having made her wait so long to be picked up, could not say no.

“Doctor?” Said Rose indicating for him to confirm that it was okay.   
  


  
“Er, we're about to head off, but you could come with us.” Smiled The Doctor a little sheepishly. The offer was overwhelming to Sarah Jane. She knew what it meant to travel with The Doctor again and half of her wanted to do it again. But doing that would be going backward in her life and turning her back on everything that she had accomplished on her own. Not only that but she saw that The Doctor, if what Rose suspected was true, might use her as a tool to distance himself more from Rose, which was not right either. The Doctor made a family and he better realize fast that he’s stuck with it for better or worse. So he had better care for it. Families were rarely things so easily gotten rid of and she had a feeling that Rose would not make it easy for him if he tried.  
  


“No. I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own.” Said Sarah Jane proudly.   
  


“Can I come?” Asked Mickey and Sarah Jane was a little put out by the request. She liked Mickey Smith well enough, but she didn’t know him enough to take him along with her. Mickey then realized his mistake and corrected,

“No, not with you,” he then turned to The Doctor and said,  
  


“I mean with you. Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there.” Rose was not happy about him asking and was grateful that she was not facing him at the time because then he would have seen the look of dread on her face. She didn’t want to have her ex tagging along with her husband and her. Sarah Jane however, had not noticed Rose’s face and feeling sympathetic for anyone who wanted to go time traveling. He even had the same last name as hers so she encouraged,  
  


“Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board.” The Doctor considered this. Such a development would actually work out quite nicely for The Doctor. He had been wondering how to, as painlessly as possible, distance himself from a woman that he lived with and this could be it. Rose would have someone beside himself to talk to. Who knew perhaps Rose would decide on her own that Mickey really had been the better deal. He had mechanical skills so he could do his end to help take care of a family, and as much as The Doctor hated to admit it, he probably wouldn’t make a half bad father. ‘Is this really what you want?’ asked a voice in his head, ‘because you don’t seem sure.’ ‘It’s not like it is an easy decision.’ The Doctor hissed back to the voice, but then said aloud,   
  


“Okay then, I could do with a laugh.” Rose was not happy at all.  
  


“Rose, is that okay?” Asked Mickey to his old Ex. Great what was she going to do, look like the bad guy who was happy to let one person stay but not another. So she lied.  
  


“No, great. Why not?” She replied half heartedly and not looking at either her husband or Mickey. Though Mickey could sense that there was tension. Still he was doing something for himself and traveling with The Doctor was what he wanted.  
  


“Well, I'd better go.” Said Sarah Jane wanting to leave the situation to be handled by the people living in it. Mickey then went over to talk to The Doctor. However, before leaving Sarah Jane put her arms around Rose and led her aside. Sarah Jane knew what Rose was facing better than anyone and wanted to leave her with comforting words. To be truthful Rose was scared. The Doctor would have never let Mickey on board before, and she didn’t know if that change alone was worrying or a good thing. What did it mean for her and The Doctor? Now that Mickey would be with them naturally they could not leave him to his own devices. They had to divide time between him.  
  


“What do I do? Do I stay with him?” Asked Rose about The Doctor, almost too scared for the answer.  
  


“Yes. Some things are worth getting your heart broken for.” Replied Sarah Jane sweetly but sympathetically as she hugged the frightened Rose and continued,

“Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me. Both of you.” Then as a caring aunt might she patted Rose’s growing belly. Rose was left with her thoughts and Sarah Jane left the TARDIS escorted by The Doctor.

Sarah Jane walked away from the TARDIS and turned her eyes to The Doctor.

“It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.” Smiled Sarah Jane.

“Something to tell the grandkids.” Grinned The Doctor. Sarah Jane looked down for a moment and then back into The Doctor’s eyes.

“Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now.” She replied. She had never had any children. She had never even married.

“Right. Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't? There hasn't been anyone? You know.” The Doctor said sheepishly. The Doctor was taken aback by his insensitiveness and the impact that he realized he had had on Sarah Jane. This was yet another reminder of things that might be to come for Rose, and he felt a wave of guilt.

“Well, there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. Goodbye, Doctor.” Smiled Sarah Jane. The Doctor had never wanted to do that to Sarah Jane. He had hoped that she would have moved on and found someone else. Clearly it seemed that he had unintentionally ruined her for other men and that he felt lower than dirt for. And now she was saying goodbye, but he couldn’t have that. He couldn’t just make this big an impact on her life and then leave her behind again forever. But wasn’t that what he was considering doing to Rose? He felt lower than the Mariana trench.

“Oh, it's not goodbye.” He insisted, but Sarah Jane retorted,

“Do say it. Please. This time. Say it.” She needed a proper goodbye. She deserved it after all the time she had waited for him. She needed that goodbye to let go and begin a new chapter in her life. The Doctor let out a sigh and solemnly said,

“Goodbye”, he then smiled,

“My Sarah Jane.” He then lifted her off her feet in a big hug, which she returned with equal love and enthusiasm as she let the hug soak into her soul. The Doctor then carefully placed her back on the ground.

Sarah Jane exhaled and looked into the ancient eyes of The Doctor. She could see that they had aged so much since last they had been traveling together. Even though he smiled she could tell that there was a weight on his heart. She thought of the situation that he was now in and she worried for both her friends, but she had faith for a good outcome. Sarah Jane reached her hand out and squeezed the Doctor’s arm.  
  
“I know you will make the right decision, Doctor.” The Doctor’s old companion reassured him. The only problem was he was still debating on what was the right decision. Still it was refreshing to see that even after all those years Sarah Jane still put so much faith in him, even if he probably didn’t deserve it. The Doctor then squeezed Sarah Jane’s hand back before going back inside the TARDIS. The door closed and she was left alone outside.

‘Well now what?’ Sarah Jane asked herself as she turned her back to the now dematerializing TARDIS and walked away. At the last moment she couldn’t resist and she turned back to see if she could get one last glance at the old time and space ship only to see in its place a very familiar little metal dog.

“K-9!” She cried out in joy as she and her metal dog 'raced' to each other.

“Mistress.” Stated the metal dog. She couldn’t believe her eyes, it was like seeing a ghost.

“But you were blown up.” She declared,

“The Master rebuilt me. My systems are much improved with new undetectable hyperlink facilities.” The little robot dog said proudly. Sarah laughed and said,

“Oh, he replaced you with a brand new model.” K-9 stated the affirmative.

“Yeah, he does that.” Sarah Jane stated in a pondering voice before cheering,

“Come on, you. Home. We've got work to do.” 

“Affirmative.” Stated the robot dog who then followed his owner back home. As it should be the Adventurer and her funny little dog. Sarah Jane walked away with her dog closing her eyes every now and then to focus on the sound of him rolling along the sidewalk, to some it might get annoying, but to her it was the most joyful sound in the world. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey watched from the monitor as Sarah left with her new dog. Rose smiled at The Doctor and he smiled back, she loved it when he made people better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Mickey has joined the crew officially, how will that influence things on the TARDIS?


	17. Four is company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mickey's on board!

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens

Chapter 17 – Four is company

Mickey was now a guest on the TARDIS. And a guest on the TARDIS required his own room, and preferably as far away from his room as possible, thought The Doctor. This was why The Doctor was so irritated by the TARDIS when Mickey’s room was literally just down the hall from the room where Rose and he used to be. Through Mickey’s door was a very stylish and good sized room that resembled a loft bedroom and even had a window view of London from what looked like from the top floor of a high rise building. Mickey was confused, but Rose explained that the TARDIS could literally make anything that suited a person and a window illusion of his home city was no problem for the time and space ship. Rose was still irritated at The Doctor for letting Mickey come along. She had some serious talking to do with The Doctor and she did not want an audience for that since he was more likely to open up even less than when Jack was around now that Mickey was here. Still the wonders of the new room that the TARDIS made for Mickey was enough to put her in a nice enough mood for the short term and she did not want Mickey to feel unwelcomed even though he kind of was, at least to her, as mean as that sounded.

Mickey had to admit that he was impressed. There was a nice full bed, a flat screen TV, video gaming systems and a top of the line, well for his era, computer with a fully stocked mini fridge next to it. The Doctor smiled at this as the TARDIS seemed to have at least, for The Doctor’s sake, set up the place so that he could easily go days without seeing Mickey if he liked. But the truth of the matter was that since the room was so close to Rose, she could easily spend hours in here, with Mickey, by themselves. If she wanted. And that was what he wanted wasn’t it? He wanted Rose to move on to what was more human, right? And like it or not that was probably Mickey. The Doctor was fighting a battle in his hearts over Rose and his future with her and until that was decided, it was probably best to give Rose some distance.

Feeling that all their running today had finally caught up with her, Rose tried to hide a small yawn and asked,

“Would you like some help settling in Mickey? I would give you a tour but as long as you don’t anger the TARDIS it’s pretty hard to get lost around her.” Rose took a step closer to Mickey in his Earth looking flat on the TARDIS and jealousy that he was trying to suppress, as it didn’t make things any easier, flared up inside The Doctor. He just wished he could make up his mind. But for the moment, Rose and his child moving closer to Mickey was seen as unbearable to the Time Lord. He needed to have the humans on his TARDIS too busy to socialize alone in a relaxed environment for very long stretches. But at the same time he needed Rose distracted enough by Mickey so that she could not get him alone long enough to talk about the obvious issues that The Doctor was hanging back on. He was a manipulative coward, a voice in his head told him, but he tamped it down.

“Anyway we got too much to do and now that we got Mickey with us we better run a few simple and safe trips that would be better suited to a tender foot such as yourself.” Said The Doctor and Mickey look affronted.

“Safer? I nearly got vaporized on my first trip with you. If that was safe than maybe we should just start on a regular trip since usually those go by without a hitch.

“Let’s go to space, space the final frontier! You’ve got all those star trek pictures on your computer, Mickey. I figured you fancy a nice trip to a real futuristic space station, yeah?” Mickey colored immediately. Yeah he had Star Trek pictures on his computer of a particular nature, along with a bunch of other ones that he did not want anyone else looking at! Especially not The Doctor.

“When the bloody hell did you look at my computer?!” Yelled Mickey at The Doctor.

“I was stuck in Jackie’s house recovering for a few days, Mickity Mickey. You left your computer there while you were out for a bit. I needed something to do besides listen to Jackie watch her TV shows or I’d go barmy. Your password was easy enough and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t accidently letting any information out about me. Not my fault if what I find in the folders you check the most often are what they are.” Stated The Doctor as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Mickey was embarrassed and at the same time infuriated at the violation of his privacy by this daft alien. Rose on the other hand despite herself had to suppress the urge to laugh at the look on Mickey’s face and the cluelessness of The Doctor as to what he had done wrong. Deciding to take pity on her best friend, she said,

“We’ll go after my nap, I’m knackered.” Mickey couldn’t help but noticed that Rose had left this an open subject for The Doctor as well as an invitation to join her. The Doctor however did not seem to notice this and Rose went down the hall to their bedroom alone.

“I am amazed by how smart you can claim to be, but I’m still smarter than you, Doctor.” Stated Mickey as he went over to check on his new videogame systems. The Doctor gave Mickey a noncommittal look and left the room. He’d been neglecting doing maintenance on the time rotor and that could easily take the time it would take for a human to nap.

Rose waited ten more minutes before she determined that her husband was not coming to bed. And it was likely that he would not be coming to bed anytime soon. No doubt he was hiding somewhere in the TARDIS from her and his responsibilities. She’d say as usual, but before they had started investigating the school, he had been nothing but attentive lately. Not saying that he wasn’t absentminded from time to time, or always there when she woke up, but she had not felt neglected. And there was the rub. They were back to the basics again only this time she wasn’t completely alone.

“Looks like it you and me again.” Rose said as she placed her hand on her abdomen and sighed when she caught a glimpse of the simple gold ring on her hand. At least The Doctor had not removed his ring again. That would have been an unrecoverable blow at this point if their marriage’s legitimacy was viewed by him as something you could just turn off and on like the tap. Something dissolved by simply removing a ring. Rose heard the TARDIS’ gentle and soothing hum encouraging her to get some rest.

“Well at least I know you’re always looking out for me.” Rose smiled to the ceiling before making herself a comfortable ‘nest’ of pillows to sleep on. Not as comfortable as she had felt sleeping next to a certain Time Lord, but it would do. ‘Tomorrow’ was a new day and maybe things would look better than.

Mickey had dozed off among his many new treasures offered to him by the TARDIS. Unfortunately when he woke up he was still half asleep and for a few confused minutes he wondered how he got in this posh flat that he found himself in. Normally when he got pissed it usually didn’t result in him waking up in a strange bed, he did have some sense of responsibility for himself. It was only when he heard the hum of the TARDIS that he remembered where he was and what he had done. He was a companion of The Doctor now and that meant strange, wondrous, and probably terrifying adventures. He just hoped that he was up to it, but if Rose could do it then so could he.

‘Rose’, thought Mickey. That was right. Rose was feeling down because her git of a husband was being a git again. He should stop mucking about and find Rose. She’d be rested by now and probably feeling very lonely since he doubted The Doctor was willing to offer her any company alone. Well fine, if the Doctor wanted to use Mickey Smith as a barrier between himself and his wife then he was going to give him the hardest time about it. He was here for an adventure and not to be used by The Doctor to make Rose unhappy. Mickey had accepted the fact that no matter how much he still cared for Rose, to Rose he could only be a friend and that was fine. But as a friend he wasn’t going to stand around and watch Rose be mistreated by her husband.

The Doctor was, in a word, jealous. Rose as usual was playing the perfect hostess now that she was rested. And why shouldn’t she? After all The Doctor had been avoiding her or at least avoiding being alone with her. That left only Mickey to really talk to and Rose liked playing the more knowledgeable one. So why not show Mickey the best spots in the TARDIS?… That she knew of anyway. The Doctor could take Rose showing the kitchen to Mickey, the Library, and even begrudgingly the swimming pool in the library. Swimming was good low impact exercise for a pregnant woman and he and Rose had actively engaged in it… once even without clothing. And now he was convinced that Rose had worn that skimpy bathing suit in front of Mickey just to spite him and his antisocial behavior towards her. 

He had spotted the two of them swimming from one of the overlooking floors of the library. The curves that his child accentuated on Rose were, to say the least, driving him wild. He couldn’t help the green-eyed rage that came over him when Mickey had helped her out of the pool, even though he knew that any future with Rose was destined to be short and tragic. In a jealous anger it was funny how easy it was to forget that information. The desire to reclaim his mate, after the hands of another male had touched her, was overpowering him. But he managed to keep his cool and focused his attention on reading the book in his hands on the history of Earth invertebrates. Of which a voice in his head reminded him of the ironic nature of the title of the book he just happened to pick up. He had just grabbed any book from the shelf so it would look like he had been reading all along, incase Rose were to look up and see him. Mickey had actually spotted him and might have been hamming up his fun with Rose just to push The Doctor’s buttons. He did not touch her inappropriately, he respected Rose and she was no more a tool to be used against The Doctor as he was a tool to be used against Rose. He knew that if Rose was to have a future with the father of her child, although that was the least desirable option in Mickey’s opinion, then if he pushed hard enough, The Doctor would realize what an idiot he was being. Then maybe he’d stop hiding, face Rose, and finally settle things. Rose deserved better than an indecisive coward.

‘That was it!’ Thought The Doctor angrily to himself. He had tolerated Mickey getting the grand tour for two days on the TARDIS now, but the last straw was Rose showing Mickey the nursery. This very much impressed Mickey to see what looked like another alien world inside a room. The Doctor knew that he shouldn’t care and that it was a room like any room on the TARDIS, only to him it wasn’t. It was to him a sacred place that a primal part of his head jealously guarded. He had only wanted himself, his mate and their child to ever go into that room. He was not mad at Rose for taking Mickey into the room. She was just showing off the gift that the TARDIS had given to their child, all the while bravely plugging on that this was going to indeed be the place that their baby would ultimately grow up in. That she could show so much confidence even though she was so scared inside that her relationship with her husband was crumbling was a marvel in itself. The Time Lord just didn’t want another male in what he considered an extension of their bedroom. ‘Not that you have joined her in your supposed shared bedroom anytime lately. Keep this up and you’ll lose the claim to it!’ That same voice scolded him. He silenced the voice that threatened his resolve and would ultimately lead him down what The Doctor viewed as a much more painful path. He needed something for them to do off the TARDIS and fast. Mickey wanted to see space so they were going to see space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter sorry, just setting the stage.


	18. Girl in the Fire Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah bum bum buuuum! Let's just get through this. I know what you are all thinking. Relax, I’m gonna drag you through the mud into an eventual shower.

Complications

By The Plot Thinens

Chapter 18 Girl in the Fire Place

The TARDIS materializes on a spaceship with a long central hub and two rotating sections attached to it, one much larger than the other. Three beings emerged from the blue police box that had appeared on the deck of the ship as if by magic. One of which was especially excited about where they had landed.

“It's a spaceship. Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first go.” Cheered Mickey as Rose and The Doctor surveyed the surroundings for anything that resembled a threat. They were both keen on Mickey’s first trip being relatively free of danger. Being pregnant had made Rose much more cautious even if The Doctor was not convinced she was playing it any safer. What both of them noticed were lots of bits and pieces of equipment scattered around messily. This struck Rose as odd for just a high tech space ship and she asked,

“It looks kind of abandoned. Anyone on board?” She didn’t want anything too scary for Mickey to face on his first time. She would very much like his experience to not be as ‘dramatic’ as hers was.

“Nah, nothing here. Well, nothing dangerous. Well, not that dangerous. You know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous.” Said The Doctor sheepishly as he went over to the nearest computer console and started scanning. He might be distancing himself from Rose and his child, but that didn’t mean he cared less if they were threatened or in danger. After all, it was the idea of having to watch them slowly die which drew him away from them.

“So, what's the date? How far we gone?” Asked Rose as she watched him mess about with the ship’s computer systems.

“About three thousand years into your future, give or take.” Announced The Doctor as he found a light switch on a console. Now they had some light atop the stars that could now be seen in the 'opening' viewing windows that made up the ceiling. The Doctor took a look at the stars and got his bearings.

“Fifty first century. Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey. Two and a half galaxies.” Boasted The Doctor to his very green companion. Mickey had such an impressed look of wonder in his eyes, as he surveyed the new galaxy. The Doctor couldn’t help but smile at how amazed the young man was. Rose as well felt joy for the new Time and Space traveler and giving him a friendly embrace declared,

“Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like?”

“It's so realistic!” Grinned Mickey to Rose. ‘Well duh, that was because it was real!’ Mickey chastised himself but he just couldn’t stop acting like a little kid that just saw Star Wars for the first time. This was stuff you only saw in movies, but it wasn't a movie, it was real life and this was happening to him! Mickey was so proud of himself that he had found the courage to travel in the TARDIS. He used to think that Rose was crazy for choosing such a life, but with views like this he was beginning to understand why she felt it was worth the risks. 

While Rose and Mickey were star gazing The Doctor was taking a good look at the state of repair that all of the computer equipment was in on the space ship. It was a mess of wires and disorganization.

“Dear me, had some cowboys in here. Got a ton of repair work going on. Now that's odd...” Mused The Doctor out loud. That got the two humans attention and they made their way over to the Time Lord who was taking a closer look at the workings of the ship via a monitor.

“Look at that. All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving. So where's all that power going?” Pondered The Doctor out loud loving if someone would answer that question for him. 

“Where'd all the crew go?” Questioned Rose. If the space station was running at full capacity then it was unlikely that it had just been left to its own devices. There had to be someone maintaining it close by.

“Good question. No life readings on board.” Stated The Doctor. That was one thing that he loved about Rose, she was always asking the right questions. He felt a wash of affection come over him for Rose, only to mentally run away from it. Obsessing over Rose’s many great, amazing, and wonderful qualities was not going to help his situation any easier. 

“Well, we're in deep space. They didn't just nip out for a quick fag.” Snarked Rose as she ran a hand over the console in front of her.

“No, I've checked all the smoking pods.” Noted The Doctor and Rose was actually bemused that there actually was a designated smoking area on a space ship. She would have thought that an open flame of any kind would be a danger for an artificially environment. Well that was probably why they had a designated smoking area to begin with. Rose didn’t have too long to think about people still smoking in the future before her husband was speaking again.

“Can you smell that?” Questioned The Doctor as he exercised his impressive nostrils. Watching him flare his nostrils was always amusing to Rose and she took a sniff mimicking him. She agreed,

“Yeah, someone's cooking.”

“Sunday roast, definitely.” Smiled Mickey who was trying to place the smell. He was happy because that definitely meant to him that people were here somewhere. Wishing to investigate further The Doctor used the console to open a door behind them. Mickey’s curiosity was peaked and he followed The Doctor through the door. Rose loved this part of the traveling. Seeing what was behind the next door. She patted her stomach and said out loud, though she was actually just talking to her baby,

“Well let’s get to the bottom of this.” 

The Doctor and his companions entered into a room that looked no different than the rest of the ship that they had seen so far. With the exception that the far wall was paneled, and contains a blazing fire in an ornate fireplace. On the mantelpiece sat an ormolu clock. It looked a bit French to Rose and Mickey and it was definitely French by The Doctor’s standards.

“Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle.” Noted The Doctor as he bounded up to investigate. He actually felt a bit charmed by the oddity. There could be a dozen reasons for a fireplace to be there and his mind danced with possible reasons, some more interesting than the other. He hoped it was for more interesting reasons though. The Time Lord took out his sonic screwdriver and ran a quick scan over the mantel.

“Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace.”

“What’s it doing here? Antique road show?” Asked Mickey confused to why a wood burning fireplace would be needed in space age times. Rose ran her hand over the clock and smirked,

Might do. The Doctor and I have seen weirder things out of place. Yeah, Doctor?” The Doctor however was too engrossed in his mystery and ignoring Rose’s question declared,

Double sided. There's another room through there.” He then crouched down to look at the other room. The Time Lord was amazed by not only the randomness but the quality of how well preserved the fireplace had been maintained. Someone had been a very clever preserver. Even the room on the other side looked like it was from the eighteenth century too. Rose and Mickey were just as curious about the fireplace and its other sided room. Rose spotted a porthole in the wall of the ship next to the fireplace and looked out only to see the emptiness of space. She did a double take and was very confused by this.

“There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look.” Pointed out Rose. There was no way this fireplace could have another room on the other side because there was nothing beyond the ship’s wall. That was when The Doctor realized that the room on the other side of the fireplace was not empty.

“Hello.” Said The Doctor to a little blond haired girl in a long nightgown kneeling by the fire on the other side of the fireplace. She was such a cute little thing and The Doctor’s heart warmed slightly as he thought about the child he would have soon. Though he had to quickly strike down that emotion before his mind tortured himself some more about his child, with musings on her possible hair or eye color. He didn’t want to leave his child behind, but at the same time he didn’t want to watch it slowly die either. Which is what would happen if he stuck around long enough. It was getting to the point where he was wondering if he’d have the guts to make the decision before the baby was born. 

Maybe it would be better if he didn’t actually see the baby. He knew just the thought of never seeing Rose’s face again pained him, though having to watch Rose’s face wither and die pained him more. His emotional survival was at stake and he was only making it harder on everyone by being indecisive, but now the girl was talking. He had to give her his attention.

“Hello.” Said the girl with confusion and a surprised look. Mickey and Rose gathered next to The Doctor to see who he was talking to. They were just as amazed as The Doctor to see the little girl in a room that didn’t seem to exist on the ship but did.

“What's your name?” Asked The Doctor, wondering if they might have a rescue on their hands and hoping that she wasn’t the only one left on the ship.

“Reinette.” Answered the young girl, to which The Doctor replied,

“Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?”

“In my bedroom.” She answered as if it weren’t obviously enough.

“And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?” Asked The Doctor for clarity.

“Paris, of course.” Answered the girl not any less confused by the appearance of people in her fireplace. Rose smiled at the little girl and wondered if her little girl would grow up to be as pretty.

“Paris, right!” Declared The Doctor now very confused as to the nature of the fireplace but drawing some odd conclusions.

“Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?” Inquired Reinette, which was a very fair question. Not sure how to answer that The Doctor quickly made up a story.

“Oh, it's just a routine fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?” Deflected The Doctor, still needing more information for his hypothesis.

“Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven.” Answered the girl dutifully and with a smile. She was finding that she liked being helpful to the funny man in her fireplace.

“Right, lovely. One of my favorites. August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night.” Rambled The Doctor off about a few future tips that left the little girl mentally scratching her head, but she would try her best to follow.

“Goodnight Monsieur.” Smiled the little girl happily in only the way an imaginative child could as The Doctor got up and left her line of sight.

“You said this was the fifty first century.” Stated Mickey obviously suggesting that The Doctor got the date wrong. Unfazed by the accusation The Doctor retorted,

“I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink.”

“What's that?” Asked Mickey who was completely confused by the terminology used by The Doctor but very keen to learn what it was.

“No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say magic door.” The Doctor admitted a bit sheepishly to his companions.

“And on the other side of the ‘magic door’ is France in 1727?” Asked Rose for confirmation all the while having an amused look on her face. This was certainly a mystery to her liking.

“Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too.” Declared The Doctor as he took off his coat. He had some thinking to do and thinking involved moving around. And it was a lot easier to do that without the added weight of the coat holding him down.

“She was speaking English, I heard her.” Said Mickey, his tone of voice suggesting that The Doctor was having him on. Rose however was quick to correct him and explained that the TARDIS translated any language for you.

“Even French?” Asked Mickey in amazement. The Doctor rolled his eyes. As if French was that difficult for his TARDIS, sure the written language wasn't phonetic at all, but his TARDIS could translate languages that all the spoken words were implied. Rose answered the affirmative to Mickey as she tried to get down to the business of investigating a mystery with The Doctor. There was something going on, on the ship, and you didn’t just punch a hole to 18th century France for a lark. The Doctor, who was looking over the mantel, however noticed a switch on the fireplace and exclaiming his victory flipped the switch and around he rotated on the mantel into Reinette’s room.

“Doctor!” Shouted Rose in concern but he was already in the room.

The first thing The Doctor noticed when he entered the room was that Reinette was now asleep and that it was snowing outside. Snow. He loved snow and it was actual snow and that made it all the better. He could see the Norte Dame cathedral covered in snow, it was a very pretty sight. He could even hear horse carriages on the streets below. He had to tamp down thought that he really should take Rose to Christmas in Paris and ride her in one of those carriages. Or how lovely her face would look haloed by real snow. Anyway back to the task at hand. He was actually impressed with how fast the little girl could go to sleep. He figured that she would still be awake and watching the funny people in the fireplace. Well at least if it was him as a child in her position that was what he would be doing. 

‘Still best not to wake her,’ The Doctor thought as he silently walked through the room to investigate. The room was filed with the trappings of an 18th century well-to-do child. She had dolls, a doll house, and little furniture for her and a rocking horse. Unfortunately despite his best efforts to stay quiet, he had no control over a horse deciding to whinny below her window and Reinette woke up with a start. Great. Now he was a strange man inside a little girl’s bedroom at night. Great imagery there, he should have brought Rose in with him too. He really hoped that she didn’t scream for her parents. He doubted that they would understand it was an accident.

“It's okay. Don't scream. It's me. It's the fireplace man.” Whispered The Doctor,

'Oh, like that made it any less weird,' thought The Doctor to himself as tried his best not to look like a child stalker in her room at night. But he sort of wasn’t a stranger…they did meet before just a moment ago…oh this felt so wrong cringed The Doctor as he in the least threatening way possible explained to the little girl,

“Look. We were talking just a moment ago. I was in your fireplace.” Feeling that things would be less uncomfortable if he wasn’t in a little girls room in the dark, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and lit a candle in Reinette’s bedroom. With some light she seemed to calm down and was staring curiously at his magic wand from the looks of it.

“There, shine a little light on the subject. Now we were just talking...” Said The Doctor to the room, but the little girl looked at him incredulously from her bed.

“Monsieur, that was weeks ago. That was months.” She corrected the strange fire place man.

“Really? Oh. Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in.” The Doctor said apologetically for the confusion he was putting the little girl through.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?” Asked the little girl of The Doctor, clearly she was upset. 'Very valid questions,' thought The Doctor as he noticed the clock on the mantel. It appeared to be broken but he could still hear very loud ticking. A touch of fear was evident on his face and he huffed out,

“Okay, that's scary.”

“You're scared of a broken clock?” questioned the girl, who found it odd for a grown up to have such a fear.

“Just a bit scared, yeah. Just a little tiny bit. Because, you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?” Asked The Doctor as he looked about the room. He had had a situation like this happen before when he had met Captain Jack in London only it was a little gas mask zombie boy and this noise sounded a whole lot bigger. The Doctor listened for the ticking noise of a clock about the room all the while trying to locate its source.

“Because, you see, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a man.” Said The Doctor very grimly and clinically. Now the little girl was starting to get frightened and pulled the covers up on her a little bit in fear.

“What is it?” She inquired as her eyes darted about the dark room.

“Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do, break the clock.” State The Doctor as if it was the most obvious thing as he slowly investigated the room all the while trying not to unnerve the poor little girl any more than she probably already was by all these odd happenings in her bedroom at night. 

“No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two? You might start to wonder if you're really alone. Stay on the bed. Right in the middle. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge.” Warned The Doctor to the terrified girl as he slowly approached the girl’s bed and got down to look underneath. The Doctor very much wanted to help this little girl and he was very upset that something would dare to bother such a young child especially at bedtime. His thoughts once more went back to his own child and against his survival instinct he thought about how children were illogically afraid of monsters in their bedrooms. He would want his child to feel safe and he'd gladly get up and search their room for monsters too. However, he was sure that after logically explaining to his offspring that nothing could get past the TARDIS’ defense that they would find monster room combing unnecessary. But he’d probably still do it every time if they asked anyway. There he was again planning a future on the TARDIS with his daughter. His mind finally snapped back to the present as he looked under Reinette’s bed. It was dark and he waved the sonic screwdriver under the bed only to have something knock it out of his hand. The Doctor quickly rolled back to retrieve it and looked to see what attacked him only to see a pair of belt buckle shoes standing on the other side of the bed with legs attached to them! The Doctor slowly brought his head up to look over the bed and seeing what it was he whispered to the little girl on the bed, 

“Reinette. Don't look round.” That was the exact opposite of what the little girl would have liked to have heard and she began to shake even more all the while telling herself not to dare look. A figure in a smiley mask and period clothing was standing behind her and The Doctor wanted to know what its intention was.

“You, stay exactly where you are. Hold still, let me look.” Instructed The Doctor who then approached the girl and held Reinette's head to looks deep into her eyes. He sensed residual energy in her head and declared to the smiley face clock man,

“You've been scanning her brain. What, you've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain? What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?” The Doctor couldn’t believe the ridiculousness of the situation. It wasn’t like there weren’t plenty of brains to scan back in the clockwork man’s own time.

“I don't understand. It wants me? You want me?” Asked Reinette who could not be any more scared than she already was if she tried as she turned to the creepy faced man.

“Not yet. You are incomplete.” Stated the masked monstrosity in a cold voice as its head moved in a very inhuman manner.

“Incomplete? What's that mean, incomplete? You can answer her, you can answer me. What do you mean, incomplete?” Demanded The Doctor of the intruding robot. The robot now deciding to be unhelpful in answering questions responded by walking around the bed and then brandishing a blade that came out of its hand at The Doctor. It was quite close and The Doctor actually had to pull his head back to avoid getting cut. Reinette begged the fireplace man to be careful, but The Doctor was not at all scared of the creature.

“Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it. Everyone has nightmares.” The Doctor said in a comforting voice to the little girl as The Doctor dodged the android’s slashes.

“Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?” Said The Doctor as he backed up towards the mantel. The Android took one more swing at him only to get its blade stuck in the mantelpiece.

“What do monsters have nightmares about?” Questioned little Reinette really wanting to know the answer and feeling a bit better due to The Doctor bravado. The Doctor seeing that the android was stuck for the moment then activated the mechanism and the fireplace to rotate again. It was best to get the monster away from little Reinette and to answer her with a proud laugh, 

“Me!” He was then gone and Reinette was left with the memory of a hero and a very interesting story to tell her family the next morning. They probably would think it just a dream and perhaps she would too with time, but for now it was very real to her.

“Doctor!” Exclaimed Rose, relieved that he was back and safe but freaked out by the 'guest' he brought back with him. She had been able to hear a bit of what was going on, but caught most of the scuffle. However, The Doctor did not stop but instead he grabbed a giant metal tube like gun from a nearby rack and fired its contents over the android causing it to seize up. Once it stopped moving all together did Mickey realize what The Doctor had done.

“Excellent. Ice gun.” He crowed, to which The Doctor corrected,

“Fire extinguisher.” He then tossed the fire extinguisher to Rose, who looked miffed at him. A little warning would have been nice. She loved him, but once he got his mind fixed on something he was a bit careless about everything else.

“Where did that thing come from?” Questioned Rose as she looked at the odd thing that had come through the fireplace with The Doctor.

“Here.” Answered The Doctor still wary that it might start moving again.

“So why is it dressed like that?” Asked Mickey confused by the flamboyant fashion sense of the machine.

“Field trip to France. Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework, shame about the face.” Rambled The Doctor as he removed the android's face to reveal clockwork. The Doctor was amazed by what he saw and his mouth hung slacked for a few moments as he took it all in. Rose and Mickey were equally impressed with the intricate thing before them.

“Oh, you are beautiful! No, really, you are. You're gorgeous! Look at that.” Noted The Doctor as he put on his brainy specs. He then turned briefly to his companions to make sure that they were seeing this before turning back to the impressive machine as its gears turned.

“Space age clockwork, I love it. I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those, two, it would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you. But that won't stop me.” Threatened The Doctor finally at the end of his admiring rant. Clearly heeding his warning the android beamed away. The Doctor recognized the energy signature of the clockwork robot and declared,

“Short range teleport. Can't have got far. Could still be on board.” He needed to find it. It could still be up to no good.

“What is it?” Asked Rose excitedly. She wanted to know the origin of this clockwork robot. The Doctor seeing that jeopardy friendly look on her face warned Rose not to go looking for it. It had threatened him with a blade and Rose wasn’t as nimble on her feet as she had been months ago with the extra weight and shifting gravity of a child in her womb. Maybe he should have mentioned that to Rose, but he was already worried about the little girl and felt responsible for her safety.

“Where're you going?” Asked Rose, not wanting to be left behind again.

“Back in a sec.” Said The Doctor as he went to use the fireplace again to make sure that it had not gone back after little Reinette again. The Doctor now gone Rose hefts the fire extinguisher like a big gun she was not the type to just sit around and wait for her husband. 

“He said not to look for it.” Mickey stated as he could clearly see that Rose was itching to explore.

“Yeah, he did.” Stated Rose, but Mickey could read the wanderlust on Rose’s face and he wanted to go exploring too. He ran for another fire extinguisher from the rack and picked it up.

“Now you're getting it.” Grinned Rose at her new ‘companion’ for this trip. The Doctor seemed to be forgetting that the only way that they got things done was if all the team was pulling to solve the mystery. She figured that it would be no harm looking for one clock robot and as long as they had the extinguishers they would be fine if it tried to get hostile. And they could easily be back in ten or fifteen minutes tops.

The Doctor looked around confused this was not a little girl's room and especially not looking like the one he had just left. It quite possibly was the same room, but it looked like it belonged to a much older person.

“Reinette? Just checking you're okay.” Called out The Doctor a bit nervously for the child he felt a responsibility to protect. He saw some birds singing in a cage across the room and the curtains were different from last time. He then noticed a harp in the corner of the room and he couldn’t resist playing a few notes. This was a very pleasant space. However, while he was distracted by the harp he did not noticed a very beautiful and well dressed woman enter the room. This woman then very politely cleared her throat to make her presence known to her unexpected guest. The Doctor was obviously startled and very nervously turned to the woman and declared,

“Oh. Hello. Er, I was just looking for Reinette. This is still her room, isn't it? I've been away, not sure how long.” The woman before him still kept a neutral face, but some obvious signs of amusement and excitement were tugging at her face. Before she could speak an older sounding woman’s voice was heard calling out,

“Reinette! We're ready to go.” Turning her head slightly to the direction of her mother, but still not taking her eyes off The Doctor she said to her mother,

“Go to the carriage, Mother. I will join you there.” Having that settled, the woman, Reinette gave The Doctor her full attention and smiling she said to him,

“It is customary, I think, to have an imaginary friend only during one's childhood. You are to be congratulated on your persistence.” The Doctor was awed at how much time had passed since he had last saw the little girl. Months had not gone by but years. She was a young woman now, she had to be like 18 years old now! He had been all geared to speak with a child, but now he had to talk to a young adult. He was quite frazzled and switched his brain over to how he might engage with an adult and not a child.

“Reinette! Well. Goodness, how you've grown.” Sputtered out The Doctor to the lovely woman. What else could he say?

“And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of you.” Declared Reinette in mock seriousness as she stepped up to him. Getting right in his personal space. It had been many years since she last saw the funny man from the fireplace. However the last she had seen him he had been being very heroic and now that she was older her memory she realized had not exaggerated his handsomeness. Often she had dreamed and thought of him and what might happen if she should see him again.

“Right, yes, sorry. Listen, lovely to catch up, but better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a strange man, do we?” Stated The Doctor very awkwardly and feeling uncomfortable. He knew how scandalous having a man in one’s bedroom could be on Earth for females during any century. Reinette was not fazed by this fact in the least, but instead smiled,

“Strange? How could you be a stranger to me? I've known you since I was seven years old.” The Doctor appreciated the sentiment and it made him a little more relaxed, but he had to be going and was backing a bit away toward the fireplace now that he determined that she was in no present danger. Reinette followed.

“Yeah, I suppose you have. I came the quick route.” Laughed The Doctor, who was then awestruck when Reinette put her hand on his cheek and stared right into his eyes. She had very nice eyes that one could easily get lost in. She was almost sure that she was hallucinating or that her hand would pass right through him.

“You seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me you cannot be real.” Said Reinette aloud as she questioned her senses. But if he was real then she had had years to think of him and now that he was here she knew just what she had wanted to do as years of thinking of him had endeared him to her memory.

“Oh, you never want to listen to reason.” Warned The Doctor as reason so rarely was reasonable in his experience. And in other situation people saying that he ended up having to usually rescue.

“Mademoiselle! Your mother grows impatient.” Shouted Reinette’s servant from down the hall. Reinette was actually unnerved by this and quite frustrated that she was being rushed. She had waited years to see the fireplace man again and what a tease that she should be in a hurry.

“A moment!” She shouted in irritation to her servant and then turned back to The Doctor.

“So many questions. So little time.” She stated in a bit of a panic. She did not know when or if she would see this handsome man literally of her dreams again. That being fact Reinette put care to the wind and kissed The Doctor full on the mouth, pushing him up against the wall. It was a really good kiss and there was a hint of tongue in there too that was oh so French. And hip action from her too! Taken off guard and his brain just enjoying the feeling, he found himself joining her in the kiss for only an instant until his head finally caught up with his lips and gently but quickly pushed her away. 'What the hell are you doing?!' was shouted in his head.

“I’m married!” squeaked The Doctor as he touched his now swollen lips and tried to get his breath and hormones under control. He had been trying to distance himself from Rose, but this had not been what he had in mind. 

“That’s all right, I’m to be married tomorrow.” smiled Reinette and she tried to continue the kiss only to be held gently at arm’s length again. 

“Now Reinette, I have a child on the way too.” Declared The Doctor like the fact was a shield. Reinette worried for a moment that she might have come on too strongly, but having been raised for court society and knowing of the double love lives of men, she did not see the issue.

“So what does that matter?” She asked breathily before stealing one more kiss that made The Doctor’s head swim. When he finally came up from the haze he found himself leaning hard against the fireplace mantel and Reinette running off to her mother. It was only then that the servant entered to see a strange and ruffled man in his mistress’s bedroom.

“Poisson? Reinette Poisson? No! No, no, no, no, no way. Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France? Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan, fantastic gardener!” Declared The Doctor loudly as all the pieces were finally falling into place as to the identity of the woman who had just given him a frankly phenomenal kiss. The servant saw this man running about the room ranting and found this quite disturbing.

“Who the hell are you?!” Spat the servant at the stranger in his mistress’ room.

“I'm The Doctor, and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour. Ha, ha!” Shouted The Doctor as he pulled the switch and turned back around to the ship. He couldn’t help it, his pride as a historian and probably also a male was elated at having attracted the admiration of such a famous woman from human history. One for the record as fair as notches in his belt for famous people he’d kissed or been kissed by. Though mind you, it was not just famous women that were notches on that belt. Albert Einstein had kissed him full on the mouth for helping him with the theory of relativity. However, the moment he had said it he then hoped, as he was spinning back to the spaceship, that he had not said it too loud. Hearing that her husband was kissing another woman probably wasn’t what Rose would want to hear right now. She could have heard the whole thing! And so early after him basically saying the human equivalent of we need a break from our relationship. Not that he had started the kiss, but he’d be lying if he said that he had not enjoyed it. The French were usually really good kissers. Sheepishly he looked up to see that much to his relief and annoyance that his two human companions were not where he had left them.

“Rose! Mickey! Every time.” Groaned The Doctor as he didn’t know why he told his companions not to wander off since they always did anyway. Maybe if he told them to wander off then they would stay put. He was worried for them and now he had to find them and make sure that they were safe, all three of them. What if one of them got hurt and he wasn’t there to help? Peeved he walked off in the wrong direction to find them all the while shouting,

“Every time, it's rule one. Don't wander off. I tell them, I do. Rule one. There could be anything on this ship.” Including it seemed a white horse with a bridle and saddle. The Doctor stared at the horse as it stepped about in the small corridor and neighed. What was he to do with a horse?

On the other end of the ship Mickey, in his search for the clockwork robot, was trying to be clever and was putting on some ridiculous looking stealth moves that Rose, quite frankly, found hilarious. She was actually have a great time with him which was wonderful since she needed laughs very desperately right now. Then on the wall Mickey noticed a camera with an eyeball in the middle that blinked at him. Mickey found this amusing and nonthreatening enough to make threats at. And puffed himself up to posture.

“Are you looking at me?” Asked Mickey of the eye with a tough attitude to his voice. Only to be startled by it when the camera extended from the bulkhead for a closer look at Mickey. Rose then approached the eye for a closer inspection as well.

“Look at this. That's an eye in there. That's a real eye.” Noted Mickey in surprise at the combination of tech and organic. The camera then went back into the bulkhead having made all the observation that it needed. Rose found the eye just as gross as Mickey did, but got distracted by a familiar sound. Following the sound which she recognized as a heart beat she opened a small hatch lower on the wall and the two humans gazed down along the wires and pipes of the hatch.

“What is that? What's that in the middle there? Looks like it's wired in.” Stated Mickey as he tried to get a good look at the odd bit of kit in front of him.

“It's a heart, Mickey. It's a human heart.” Declared Rose in disgust and horror. What was happening on this spaceship? Thought Rose in worry. She thought it best to stop their expedition and get back to The Doctor to tell him of their discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:  
> Yuck, chop shopping body parts. That’s just creepy. And The Doctor better watch his steps or he’s going to end up in a lot more trouble.


	19. Horsing around in France

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor goes deeper into Reinette's history to solve the mystery. And there's a horse too.

**Complications**

By the Plot Thinens

** Chapter 19 – Horsing around in France **

“Rose?” The Doctor called out almost pathetically for his wife, while the white horse followed him down the corridor. Much to The Doctor’s irritation he could not get the horse to stop following him. ‘Something or someone following me home. Story of my life’, thought The Doctor as he turned to face the horse that had been tailing him for what felt like a mile now. He had two humans to find and he couldn’t be distracted by a clingy equine.   
  


“Will you stop following me? I'm not your mother.” Said The Doctor to the horse as he put out his hand as an added gesture not to follow him. However, the horse stubbornly refused to listen. He liked The Doctor and he had been the only other living thing he had seen since coming to this hard and little place. The horse just wanted to feel safe with a bipedal protector until he could be led back to some grass. The horse needing comfort then affectionately nuzzled at the Doctor’s arm. The Doctor turned away from the horse only to spot a pair of large white wooden doors big enough for a horse to fit through. Thinking that he had gotten to the bottom of the appearance of the randomly appearing horse, The Doctor opened the doors. The Time Lord found himself bathed in a flood of bright light and looking back to the horse.

  
“So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?” Said The Doctor to his new equine companion. The Doctor then strolled out on to a green lawn. And that was when he spotted her. Reinette was across the gardens of Versailles laughing and walking with a dark skinned woman. Her face was slightly obscured by her parasol and The Doctor knelt down low behind a stone urn to get a better look. In the lovely summer afternoon light, the elegantly dressed Reinette was a vision of loveliness and grace. The Doctor couldn’t help but watch as a lovesick school boy might just knowing such an intelligent mind rested in the head of such a great beauty. Beauty and brains, what a lady! Only a privileged few ever got to know historical figures on the intimate level that The Doctor did and he was humbled in her presence as he watched her artfully navigate the Versailles court. She was almost as artful as he considered himself to be.

  
“Oh, Catherine, you are too wicked.” Grinned Reinette with mirth to her companion.

  
“Oh, speaking of wicked, I hear Madame de Chateauroux is ill and close to death.” Declared the dark skinned woman with obviously false concern.

  
“Yes. I am devastated.” Stated Reinette with equal falsity of an ambitious woman.

  
“Oh, indeed. I myself am frequently inconsolable. The King will therefore be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?” Questioned Reinette’s companion.

  
“He is the King, and I love him with all my heart. And I look forward to meeting him.” Smiled Reinette as The Doctor watched. Although the topic of conversation was quite plainly geared toward the dog eat dog world of gaining the King’s favor. It almost didn’t matter what she said, she looked so beautiful in her period clothing which of course to her wasn’t period at all, but modern fashion. The Doctor was so enamored with her that his gaze was only interrupted by the loud call of a peacock which turned Reinette’s attention to him. The Doctor had no desire right now to be spotted and quickly hid from sight.   
  
  


“Is something wrong, my dear?” Questioned Reinette’s companion. Quickly recovering Reinette said that nothing was wrong. Only to have her friend remark that every woman in Paris knew of her ambition to become the King’s mistress. Unfazed Reinette replied,  
  


“Every woman in Paris shares them.” She along with any woman knew the benefits to being mistress to the King and would be a fool not to share such an ambition. And as everyone did it then there was no reason to look down on it as it was quite normal. She had been groomed for the hopeful position her whole life and even her nickname, Reinette, meant Little Queen. A term of endearment gifted to Reinette when a fortune teller told her mother that she would be the future lover of the King. Her mother had called her a 'little morsel for the King' and she had worked to offer herself to him. It would happen soon.  
  


“You know of course that the King is to attend the Yew Tree ball?” Declared Reinette’s smiling companion.   
  


“As am I.” Smirked Reinette. The Doctor admired ambitious humans. They did make the most interesting history. Though there had been a time now and then when humans became too ambitious for anyone’s good and he had to put a stop to it, but Reinette was nowhere in that category. She just knew what she wanted and went for it. She had been conditioned her whole life to play this game and she planned to win it. There was none more ambitious than this woman and The Doctor felt honored that he had the privilege to watch her and know her.

Not wishing to draw any more attention to himself The Doctor exited right out the way he came only to find a rather cruel looking man with a whip in his way.

“Have you seen a white horse around here? When I find that insufferable beast I will whip it within an inch of its life!” Growled the man. The Doctor just looked at the man with a mixture of disgust and irritation.

“Oh I really wish you hadn’t said that.” Whined The Doctor who then left through the wooden doors back to the ship. Walking back through only revealed that the horse had not moved. Well he certainly couldn’t just leave him back to the gardens now. Not after what that man had said. He couldn’t let such a nice and trusting animal get literally horsewhipped. Briefly, and against The Doctor’s survivalist thoughts, The Doctor found his traitorous mind wondering if his daughter might like having such a horse, but that idea was quickly and guiltily squashed. It was best to avoid such thinking. His attention was brought back to the horse in front of him and with a wave of sympathy The Doctor made his decision. Looking the horse straight in the face.

“Okay first rule, don’t wander off. I got two human companions that can’t seem to follow that rule so let’s see if you can’t do any better.” Said The Doctor sternly to the horse. The horse seemed to nod his head at this and The Doctor went off to search for two humans with his new companion following behind. For a fleeting moment The Doctor worried about what Rose would say about the horse, but then he remembered that it was his TARDIS. All the while tamping down that voice that told him that after all they’d been through together it was their TARDIS and not just his anymore.

“Yeah, my TARDIS my rules, right boy? Boy…oh you need a name now, don’t you? Let’s see…oh I’m rubbish at names. I was just joking when I suggested that Roy call his horse, Trigger. You know I taught Trigger that counting trick too…”

  
To say that Mickey was unnerved would have been an understatement. In fact he was completely freaked out and trying his best to hide it. He looked over at Rose and wondered how she could remain as calm as she was after seeing a human body part hooked up to a machine. He also couldn’t let go of the feeling that they were being watched.

“Maybe it wasn't a real heart.” Said Mickey looking for reassurance. Rose however had none to offer and replied,  
  


“Course it was a real heart.” Rose suspected that something much more sinister was going on inside this spaceship and she wanted more than ever to compare notes with The Doctor. She also thought that Mickey would feel calmer in The Doctor’s presence. After all, she usually did, except until lately. Now being around him was an anxiety crammed situation that she was sure wasn’t any good for her child either.   
  


“Is this like normal for you? Is this an average day?” Questioned Mickey as he wondered what Rose got up to with The Doctor and how she could remain so focused in light of the situation. From what Rose had told him of her travels it seemed to be mostly fun. Now he realized that Rose might have been just telling him the good stuff and leaving out the bad. Which of course was obvious, London couldn’t be the only place where aliens make trouble in the universe.  
  


“Life with The Doctor, Mickey? No more average days.” Stated Rose simply, trying to make him understand exactly what he had signed up for. The two then noticed and stopped before a large window only to see into a very ornate palace like room. It was furnished with plush chairs, chandelles and the finest carpets.   
  
  


“It's France again. We can see France.” Declared Mickey at the continued oddities of the spaceship.   
  


“I think we're looking through a mirror.” Noted Rose as she watched a very fancy dressed man enter the room with two other men.  
  
  


“Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?” Scoffed Mickey at the man dressed in a white silk long tailed coat.   
  


“The King of France.” Said The Doctor as he came up behind his two companions.  
  


“Oh, here's trouble. What you been up to?” Smiled Rose to her husband who she was, despite their recent situation, very happy to see. The Doctor for a moment was taken aback by this comment. He had done something, not a half hour ago, that he did not want Rose knowing about... And if she did find out he would definitely be in trouble. He had kissed another woman. Well technically she kissed him, but he had enjoyed it. It was a very nice kiss. Deciding it best to omit that information The Doctor answered,  
  


“Oh, this and that. Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man….” His sentence however was interrupted by the loud sound of a horse neighing.   
  


“Oh, and I met a horse.” Smiled The Doctor and pointing to the white horse. Rose and Mickey had seen a lot of odd things on this space ship but they had never expected to see a horse of all things!   
  


“What's a horse doing on a spaceship?” Questioned a shocked Mickey Smith.   
  


“Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective.” The Doctor shot back and Mickey had to admit to himself that he could not question that logic.

“See these? They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history...” Noted The Doctor to his companions as they watched Reinette enter the room and curtsey to the King of France.  
  


“Hers. Time windows deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?” Pondered The Doctor out loud as he gazed at Reinette with a captivation that got Rose’s attention too. It was a look of obsession, admiration and something else that Rose either didn’t recognize or didn’t want to recognize.   
  


“Who is she?” Asked Rose, very curious to hear The Doctor’s intelligence on the frankly stunning woman before them. She didn’t know what it was but Rose just read something coming off her husband in regards to this woman. She didn’t much like it, but she couldn’t put her finger on why just yet.  
  


“Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived.” Said The Doctor in admiration. Well this Poisson woman sure had eyes on the King of France they were watching and Rose asked,  
  


“So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?”   
  


“No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress.” Explained The Doctor still not diverting his gaze on the enigmatic woman centered on their mystery.   
  


“Oh, I get it. Camilla.” Grinned Rose at the intrigue and Mickey giggled at Rose’s joke. It sounded like something out of a soap opera. The Doctor continued to observe the behavior between the two people in the window and made his conclusion.  
  


“I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace. Even her own title. Madame de Pompadour.” The King and his servants then left the room. Reinette being alone walked over to the mirror to check her appearance unaware that a mirror to her was a window to the three people in front of her. The Doctor watched Reinette’s lovely face and smiled. This smile however was not missed by Rose who felt uneasy at The Doctor’s behavior. And for a reason that she was starting to suspect, she did not think she liked the Reinette woman or her husband’s historical obsession with her. Of course he would know all about an Earth historical figure and maybe it was irrational, but Rose knew long ago to trust her instincts like a wolf. And her instincts were telling her that there was a larger part of the story that she had not yet seen. And for that reason she was deciding that she didn’t like this idea of the King having mistresses behind his wife’s back and sympathized with this Queen she had never even heard of before.  
  


“The Queen must have loved her.” Declared Rose with a bit of an uneasy sarcastic voice as she could just sense the tension that something like that would cause. She knew that she herself would not be very happy if her husband had another woman on the side...well besides the TARDIS, they shared her though.  
  


“Oh, she did. They get on very well.” Smiled The Doctor.   
  


“The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?” Asked Mickey very confused as to how that would work out.   
  


“France. It's a different planet. Reinette was polite and showed proper respect to her Queen and she in kind thought that if there had to be a mistress, then better it was her.” Noted The Doctor who then spotted a broken clock in the corner of the room. This was not good! Quickly The Doctor sprang his team into action to assist the French woman.

In Versailles, Reinette had been straightening herself in the mirror only to spot in its reflection something odd. Reinette turned to see a woman with her back to her in the corner. Infuriated by the cheek she demanded,   
  


“How long have you been standing there? Show yourself!” It was yet again a clockwork android! The Doctor seeing the danger grabbed a fire extinguisher from Mickey’s hands and rotated the mirror opening it on to the room much to Reinette’s surprise. Taking charge of the room and situation The Doctor said to the lovely Frenchwoman,   
  


“Hello, Reinette. Hasn't time flown?”   
  


“Fireplace man!” Shouted Reinette in surprise and relief that her protector had returned to her. Not wasting a moment The Doctor sprayed the android down with the extinguisher and threw it back to Mickey. The android was frozen stiff and it seemed calmness came over the room. Rose looked to the android then to The Doctor and then to Reinette. Reinette was gravitating close to The Doctor, but since he had control of the situation maybe she just felt safest with him, thought Rose. Then the android started to creak.  
  


“What's it doing?” Asked Mickey as he looked at the android.  
  


“Switching back on. Melting the ice.” Explained The Doctor as he stared at the android. Mickey then inquired as to what would happen next once the android did that.  
  


“Then it kills everyone in the room.” Said The Doctor calmly who then had to dodge the android’s stiff hand striking up at him.

“Focuses the mind, doesn't it? Who are you? Identify yourself.” Hissed The Doctor to the Android. Seeing no results The Doctor then told Reinette to order it to answer him.

“Why should it listen to me?” Inquired the French woman, not seeing what made her so special to these creatures.   
  


“I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it.” Whispered The Doctor to Reinette. Very nervous and somewhat shakily, Reinette then ordered of the android,   
  


“Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you.”   
  


“I am repair droid seven.” Answered the robot person in a feminine voice. Now they were getting somewhere thought The Doctor. Wanting more answers, The Doctor asked,  
  


“What happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage.”   
  


“Ion storm. Eighty two percent systems failure.” Explained the metallic voice to The Doctor. That didn’t make any sense to The Doctor and he stated,  
  


“That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?”   
  


“We did not have the parts.” The Android answered and Mickey smirked,   
  


“Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts.” Mickey knew, as a mechanic, the forever irritation of not having the right part to fix something and even more so knew the annoyance of trying to explain that to an impatient customer.   
  


“What's happened to the crew? Where are they?” Demanded The Doctor from the android only to get the same answer as before, ‘we did not have the parts.’   
  


“There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?” Growled The Doctor now having lost any patience he had left and again the android replied,   
  


“We did not have the parts.” 

“Fifty people don't just disappear. Where. Oh.” Said The Doctor. And then the penny dropped. The Doctor knew what had happened to the crew of this spaceship. And it was a sickening and disturbing thought. The Doctor had to fight off the urge to shiver as his over active imagination filled in the blanks as to the crew’s probably horrifying and painful last minutes.  
  


“You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew.” Hissed The Doctor to the Android, he was tired of games.  
  


“The crew?” Questioned Mickey a bit scared as the idea began to creep up on him.  
  


“We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired in to machinery.” Explained Rose to The Doctor.   
  


“It was just doing what it was programmed to. Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?” Said The Doctor in a sad voice as the situation was going from bad to worse.  
  


“Someone cooking.” Stated Rose in horrified realization at how literal what she said was.   
  


“Flesh plus heat. Barbeque.” Said The Doctor simply. He then turned his questions back to the Android and inquired,

“But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to eighteenth century France? Why?”   
  


“One more part is required.” The feminine android stated. Realizing in horror as to what Reinette’s part was in all of this now The Doctor looked worriedly over to the French beauty and not believing he was going to complain to the android about this, but he wondered what was the hold up all the same,  
  


“Then why haven't you taken it?” He questioned the android.   
  


“She is incomplete.” The Android explained to The Doctor. The Doctor couldn’t believe the idiocy of all this and he scoffed,   
  


“What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet.” The Doctor was right this didn’t make any sense. Rose knew that these androids could take any people they wanted if they had time travel capabilities, what made Madame de Pompadour worthy of being singled out to these butchers of humans?  
  


“Why her? You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?” Demanded Rose of the increasingly creepy android, who stated that they were the same. Reinette had observed this exchange long enough. She was nothing like these people who cut up people to use in machines and she would make that known.  
  


“We are not the same. We are in no sense the same.” She hissed at her hated and lifelong enemy. Unmoved the android said again that the two of them were the same only to have Reinette demand the android to leave, much to The Doctor’s dismay.  
  


“Reinette, no.” Shouted The Doctor as the android teleported away. Great, now they had to hunt the thing down again and who knew where or when it could be causing trouble.   
  


“It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does.” Ordered The Doctor as he swung open the mirror to hurry his companions along.   
  


“Arthur?” Asked Rose who was confused as to who was Arthur.  
  


“Good name for a horse.” Said The Doctor sheepishly, and Rose rolled her eyes. The Doctor sure didn’t discriminate in the species department when he chose companions. She failed to see what good a horse could be in this situation.  
  


“No, you're not keeping the horse.” Stated Rose exasperated by her husband’s latest odd whim. The Doctor in response then defensively stated,   
  


“I let you keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go!” At those words Rose leaned in closer to her husband.

“I’m not keeping him. You invited him! What is that suppose to mean? It wasn’t my idea. I wanted you all to myself. Remember that.” Whispered Rose in her husband’s ear before she ran off through the door with Mickey. Rose also did not like the fact that she was leaving The Doctor behind with another woman, but she trusted The Doctor and she wanted to help prevent another death at the hands of these crazy robots. She made eye contact with The Doctor just as he was closing the mirror behind her and ran off to see where the Robot had gone. She had seen something in his eyes and she wasn’t sure right now that she wanted to speculate what it was, so she focused on catching the androids. It couldn't be too dangerous for at least them, otherwise The Doctor would not send them off alone with a horse as back up.

  
“Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. It won't hurt a bit.” Implored The Doctor to the woman who had in the span of minutes to him, known Reinette her whole life. Carefully he placed his hand on both sides of the woman’s face and closed his eyes to concentrate. This was a very intimate act and guilt panged The Doctor slightly that Rose had yet to experience this form of connection with him. But he did not dwell on that long as the contents of Reinette’s mind came washing over him as their two minds met.  
  


“Fireplace man, you are inside my mind.” Gasped Reinette to her mysterious hero.   
  


“Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here.” Remarked The Doctor with concern as he continued his probe of her mind.

Mickey and Rose made their way down the corridor carrying their extinguishers. Although they were ‘sure’ that he would be of good help, Mickey and Rose had left Arthur behind to 'play look out'. Or at least that what they could imagine he was doing. He was a horse. Either way Mickey was finally glad not to be Lowman on the totem pole anymore. A human was more helpful a companion any day. Of course all of that was riding on The Doctor coming back and not deciding that a horse was infinitely better than a Mickey. In which case, husband of his best friend or not, he might punch The Doctor. But even those thoughts could not dampen his spirits too much. Mickey couldn’t be any smugger since as far as he was concerned, all he had ever said about The Doctor and his philandering nature was true. He was just sorry that a child had to be brought into the middle of this before Rose could see it.

“So, that Doctor, eh?” Smirked Mickey to Rose as they walked.   
  


“What are you talking about?” Groaned Rose in an irritated voice to Mickey.   
  


“Well. He’s quite the lady’s man, yeah? Madame de Pompadour. Sarah Jane Smith. Cleopatra.” Stated Mickey as he listed off the long line of women in the Doctor’s life. Rose was not in a good mood and had had it for today with Mickey taking jabs at her less than perfect marriage. As if it would make his claim any less worthy of consideration, Rose piped up to omit one name on the list.  
  


“Cleopatra. He mentioned her once.” Said Rose, wanting this conversation buried and never dug up again.   
  


“Yeah, but he called her Cleo. Doctor might have a girl in every spaceport or century.” Smirked Mickey knowingly.   
  
  
“He’s allowed to have female friends. Mickey! M' not a ball and chain!” Growled Rose and she was about ready to smack her Ex across the face when an android grabbed Mickey by the throat. Rose called out to her friend only to have another grab her from behind. Rose saw the needles that the androids had pulled out and she knew they were intended to be injected into her and Mickey. Rose’s fear for her child and the introduction of any more foreign substances into her body made Rose panic and she thrashed as best she could to try to free herself. However, there was very little that she could do as the androids were much stronger than her and inevitably they injected the two humans with something. Rose felt the world spin and then felt no more.

“You are in my memories. You walk among them.” Stated Reinette as it became clear as to what The Doctor was doing inside her head. Reinette was in awe at the intimate nature of this action. It was something that she had never experienced with another person before and perhaps with the mind taking the right direction it could be far better than sex.   
  


“If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look. Oh, actually there's a door just there. You might want to cl... Oh, actually, several.” Said The Doctor a bit embarrassed. Reinette just smirked. She was letting the Doctor see her in the most intimate of ways. She laid her mind and the image of her body bare to him. Everything she laid before his mind. Every time she had wondered about his life and his body, he saw. Every lusty vision she had had of him over the years. Every fantasy of him that she had ‘taken care of herself’ that existed in her memory she shown to him until there was not a part of her he did not know. She would have him know her better than he ever knew any other woman. The Doctor was overwhelmed by the boldness of Reinette and how she left nothing for him not to see. Even every door to his wife’s 'mind' he had never seen left wide open for him. He had not been expecting it, this openness, and it hit him on the level of surprise as one might feel seeing a lover showing up naked at the front door. He had absolute freedom to move about in her lovely mind and such a feeling was euphoric to him. He had to take a deep breath to regain control after Reinette’s flooding thoughts into his mind.   
  


“To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?” Asked Reinette somewhat breathily.   
  


“I don't make a habit of it.” Stated The Doctor trying to refocus and get at what the androids wanted from the beautiful French woman.   
  


“Not even with your own wife? How can you resist?” Inquired Reinette of The Doctor. It was not that The Doctor did not want to walk among his wife’s soul, but Rose had lived a rough life before she met him. She had done and said things that she was not proud of and did not define who she was now. So The Doctor understood that there were some things that she just didn’t want him knowing. He had been okay with that. He had thought before that perhaps with time the two would open up to each other more. Besides like he was one to talk, she knew very little about his past and thankfully Rose did not ask. In fact in the year they…’year! The year!’ thought The Doctor and he then asked Reinette,   
  


“What age are you?” Reinette thinking that it was another question to increase their closeness smirked and replied,  
  


“So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising.” The Doctor did not want her to get the wrong idea so he corrected,

“No, not my question, theirs. You're twenty three and for some reason, that means you're not old enough.” Stated The Doctor as he sensed distress in Reinette’s mind.

“Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect.” He apologized as she remarked on seeing such a lonely childhood.   
  


“It'll pass. Stay with me.” Reassured The Doctor who did not want Reinette getting sidetracked by any unpleasant memories so they could find the answer to their android problem.   
  


“Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone.” Mourned Reinette to her hero. The Doctor could not understand what Reinette had to be lonely about that would bother her so and declared,   
  


“What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life... When did you start calling me Doctor?” The Doctor was confused as to how she had learned of his name when no one had said it around her.   
  


“Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now. How can you bear it?” Inquired Reinette and The Doctor broke the link. He had realized that she had somehow looked into his mind when it was supposed to be him doing all the mind walking. How else could she know of his loneliness as a youth or that his situation now with his wife and child’s 'terminal illness' made him feel?   
  


“How did you do that?” Asked The Doctor in an accusatory voice while taking a step away. The amazing woman just remarked in response,  
  


“A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction.” The Doctor just stared at the woman in disbelief. He had not experienced such a mental familiarity like this one in so long and to see it in this famous Earth woman was a sight to behold.

“Oh, Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me.” She begged and The Doctor flinched at the mention of the word, Dance. He had only danced with one person in centuries and that had been Rose. But then he remembered that dance didn’t mean to her what it meant to him. She wanted to actually dance, but he could not on such a night. History dictated another outcome for this important night.   
  


“I can't.” He protested.   
  


“Dance with me.” She insisted. Oh it was tempting. Who wouldn’t want to dance with the gorgeous woman in front of him? Only one man specifically was supposed to be dancing with Reinette tonight. Dance both in actual dancing and the euphemism.   
  


“This is the night you dance with the King.” Noted The Doctor.   
  


“Then first, I shall make him jealous.” She smirked. Clearly she was unfazed by his refusal.   
  


“I can't.” Stated The Doctor again. This was becoming a very uncomfortable situation. Especially for that of a still married man with a child on the way. He still felt obligated to Rose for all his attempts at distancing himself from her and their child. The Doctor however was trapped in Reinette’s intelligent eyes as she asked,  
  


“Doctor. Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?” Reinette saw that this man was made of secrets and much of him had to remain a secret from not just strangers or enemies, but from those who knew him the most. She pitied such a secretive man who had to keep so many things to himself and suffer alone. No wonder he was lonely.  
  


“What did you see?” Questioned The Doctor a little nervous as to how much she had learned about him. She just smiled at him and said with sincerity,  
  


“That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance.” Again his mind went to a different kind of dancing, how easy that was to do in Reinette’s presence, but he had learned to dance again and with Rose. Still it was just dancing, not actual dancing, just dancing dancing; it couldn’t hurt anyone to accept an invitation from a person whose life was in your debt. Reinette took him by the hand and then led her hero to the ballroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog…!  
> Comments welcomed.
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	20. My husband’s keeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mrs and the Mistress have a talk and the Doctor leaves people behind.

Complications  
By the Plot Thinens  
Chapter 20 – My husband’s keeper  
The TARDIS still sat where she had materialized in the part of the ship that looked like a cross between an operating room and a machine shop. So close and yet so far away. In that same room, Rose and Mickey were strapped to slanted tables with many of the androids surrounding them. Rose was starting to come around as her body was nearly done fighting off the knockout drug that she had been injected with. As her vision became less blurry, one of the androids’ scary masks started coming into focus as she warily began to wake up. She tried to sit up only to find her legs and arms restrained with metal manacles. Panicking she called out to her husband as she pulled against her restraints,

“What's going on? Doctor?” Then she spotted Mickey, wide awake, across the room from her. She was relieved that he was okay, but not looking happy at all. Worried about the rest of the group she looked down to her stomach and for all she could tell her little passenger was fine, despite the situation and drugs. Rose pulled at her restraints again still feeling a slight heaviness from the last of the drug in her system.

“Rose? They're going to chop us up, just like the crew. They're going to chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship. And where's The Doctor? Where's your precious husband now? He's been gone for flipping hours, that's where he is! Where is he when we need him the most?” Cried out Mickey clearly close to wetting himself with fear. Rose didn't blame him, she was growing increasingly nervous too. If what Mickey said was true and The Doctor had been already gone for hours, she worried what might have become of him at the hands of these malfunctioning androids. He certainly would not have left them in danger for hours, would he? No something had to have happened to him. Something terrible had to have happened to him and she was in to state to try to come to his rescue.

“You are compatible.” Said the Droid to Rose mechanically and cold. Rose knew what that meant and like cold water the fear splashed over her completely like being thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool in Antarctica. She was wide awake and fearful now. She had no desire to become a permanent fixture on this spaceship. Trying to stall for time and possibly see if some escape were possible, she began to nervously ramble in an almost threatening voice,

“Well, you might want to think about that. You really, really, might, because me and Mickey, we didn't come here alone. Oh no. We have my husband with us. And trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with our designated driver.” The Android however took no heed and was obvious immune to fear. The android then extended its blade, with a little cogged wheel spinning mind numbingly fast at the end and placed it in front of Rose. She was terrified now. 

“You are compatible and fortunately come with additional parts.” Said the clockwork robot in an unfeeling voice as it pointed its bladed hand at Rose’s Abdomen. Rose could not have been any more panicked if she tried and shouted off more threats to the androids that she had no power to see through.

“Ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them? They had a name for my husband. They had myths about him, and a name. They called him the…” However Rose while trying to say this found herself constantly interrupted by crashing and banging noises, followed by what appeared to be the sound of her husband singing rather drunkenly.

“I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night…” sang the voice of The Doctor.

“They called him the… They called him the, the…” But Rose could not finish her sentence as her husband had swaggered in, carrying a goblet in his hand and wearing his tie around his head like a crown. And yes, looking quite drunk. Rose was floored. Had her husband been gone all this time getting drunk?! While they were in peril? She felt the humiliating sting too of referring to him as their designated driver when he appeared to be blind stinking drunk. She couldn’t believe her husband could do that to her and their baby. Who knew how many seconds she had been away to… He just continued to sing from the musical 'My Fair Lady' and shout,

“And still have begged for more. I could've spread my wings and done ... Have you met the French? My god, they know how to party.” The Doctor smiled goofily and staggered about like the sloppy drunk he appeared to be.

“Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. My husband, The Oncoming Storm.” Grumbled Rose unable to decide if she was more annoyed, angry or hurt that he didn’t seem to be the least bit worried that his wife was about to be cut up for parts along with their baby. Was this really the same man who had instantly charged a Dalek Armada, while having no weapons or plan, just to save her?! 

“Oh, you sound just like your mother.” The Doctor said condescendingly to Rose as he leaned in close to her. Comparing her to her mother, for a man who seemed to appall domestics, he sure was acting like the stereotypical disgruntled old married couple husband…Or just a git.

“What've you been doing? Where've you been? A few minutes more and you were going to be a widower! And the last Time Lord Again!” Roared Rose, very angry and hurt by his late and apparently drunken arrival. She had never seen him drunk before, not even when he was John, she wasn’t even aware he could get drunk as a Time Lord. Her mind flashed to all the times that she watched neighbors' husbands and friend's Dad's come rolling in blind stinking drunk and the humiliation of it just by proxy. It was worse when it was your own husband. Seemingly unmoved by his wife’s plight the Time Lord announced,

“Well, among other things, I think I just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early. Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before. Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are good.” Rose’s heart almost skipped a beat at hearing him say something that her old leather Doctor had often said. But then she felt hurt at the reminder that he was the same man and he was hurting her like this. But before she could have too much time to dwell on it, he was already directing his attention at one of the well dressed droids.

“Oh ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant. It's you. You're my favorite, you are. You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because this ship is thirty seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty seven, when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do.” Regaled The Doctor to the room but mostly to the droids.

“The brain is compatible.” Stated the android still threatening Rose with a sharp implement. 

“Compatible? If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine.” Said The Doctor cleverly before removing the android's mask and pouring the contents of the goblet into its head. The clockwork inside then seized up. 

“Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't. Sorry about that had to play the drunk, figured they’d be less likely to spot my plan when I’m seemingly flailing about the room for no reason but a drunken stupor.

Rose was relieved. He was not drunk, just faking. Maybe it had been a plan to trick the androids into seeing him as a non threat or something. But where was he all this time, hopefully just researching. Still he had been cutting it close. Literally. She had come this close to getting cut up and used for parts on the ship. The Doctor now seeing his chance found what he suspected was the androids’ off switch on the console and flipped it. The Doctor then looked to his companions to make sure that they were unharmed. He looked at Rose’s face expecting to see annoyance, but overall gratitude. What he saw instead was very different. Rose looked pissed and betrayed.

“I could…no I should smack you, Doctor! If my arms weren’t tied down. What if they had started cutting us up right away, yeah? Bet you’d feel pretty stupid for this bollocks you’ve been putting us through then. Could have walked in here with ours guts being used for electrical cables, fairy lights, and who knows what else!” Hissed Rose to The Doctor under her breath. The Doctor was hit with a pang of guilt but quickly deflected the conversation so as not to remind himself that either way he would lose Rose before he was ready. ‘If she had been mutilated while you were out partying, could you live with yourself? Should I give you a medal for the galaxy’s worst dad?’ Asked that troublesome voice again. The Doctor ignored the voice and looked to his companions. 

“Right, you two, that's enough lying about. Time we got the rest of the ship turned off.” Declared The Doctor as he freed Rose and Mickey. 

“Are those things safe?” Questioned Mickey fearfully as he looked at the disabled droids.

“Yeah. Safe. Safe and thick, way I like them. Okay. All the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets.” Stated The Doctor as he looked through his bigger on the inside pockets. Rose just rolled her eyes, in this business you had to just roll with the punches along with your eyes. She inquired, 

“Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty seven?” 

“With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that. The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?” Asked The Doctor of himself in frustration. Then he heard a bell ring.

“What's that?” Asked Rose looking around in confusion along with a very wary Mickey. Mickey did not like sudden loud noises of any kind especially when The Doctor was involved. 

“I don't know.” Said The Doctor as he looked about the controls trying to spot some indication of the cause of the noise. 

“Incoming message?” The Doctor asked himself, not sure if he had the right idea.

“From who?” Asked Mickey, clearly he was clueless. The Doctor felt dread in his heart for the woman that they, and especially him, were working so hard to protect from the malfunctioning android attacks. 

“Report from the field. One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's an override.” Announced The Doctor, his voice filled with worry as he noticed the first android reactivate and expel the anti-oil out through its finger onto the floor.

“Well, that was a bit clever.” Said The Doctor in an exasperated voice, clearly trying to reaffirm a mood that he somehow still had this all under control. That was until the androids’ off switch moved on its own to on again. The Doctor then interrogated the android, 

“Right. Many things about this are not good. Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?” The droid merely announced that Reinette was now complete and that the event they had finally been waiting for had begun. All the androids then teleported out of the room to fulfill their ghastly purpose. The climax of this misadventure was coming up and The Doctor feared that the outcome would not only be detrimental to history, but Reinette’s safety as well. 

“What's happening? They said it’s begun. Are they going after her brain now?” Questioned Rose in fear for the poor woman. 

“One of them must have found the right time window. Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head.” Said The Doctor to Rose. Rose was not about to let that happen anymore than The Doctor would. She was as much a denizen of time and space as The Doctor and the European’s history needed this woman. She would work just as hard as The Doctor to save the historical figure who, after all, was a person like her. Rose could also sympathize with not wanting to be cut up by androids. It was terrifying to her with 21st century knowledge and Rose could only imagine how overwhelming this situation was for a pre-revolutionary French woman.

“Doctor, tell me what I can do to help.” Demanded Rose of her husband. The Doctor’s mind was racing with all the variables and possibilities he might face. He needed to warn Reinette, but he didn’t think that he had enough time to provide a warning and rescue her. Rose volunteering to take his place for warning Reinette would be a great and welcomed help. With great urgency and worry on his voice that Rose couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy for, no matter how much she tried to put it aside for the sake of the mission, she listen to his instructions. The Doctor with gratitude on his voice then thanked Rose.

“But I barely understand what’s going on with the time windows. How is she going to get it?” Questioned Rose now feeling a little unsure with such an important task that she could easily mess up.

“Oh she’s clever, she’ll figure it out. Go!” Declared The Doctor, she and Mickey were then racing off to the nearest available window to Reinette’s past, before the French woman was yet ‘complete’.  
\---------------------  
Reinette stood by a grand window looking out on a grander evening sky. It was evening and she was alone as she heard footsteps approach her from the next room. Learning to always be on the alert in her years of dealing with unexpected guests she quickly looked to the mantel to see if her time piece was still functional. It was working and she let out a quick sigh of relief and then disappointment before being startled by a face in the reflection glass of the time piece. It was ghostly familiar but still not the one she longed to see. Quickly she turned around and saw that it was just the pregnant blond girl who traveled with The Doctor. Well not just any girl, she knew who she was to The Doctor. 

“Madame de Pompadour. Please, don't scream or anything. We haven't got a lot of time.” Said Rose a bit nervous and not wanting the guards called on her. Having to explain her presences and attire, even by French standards, to any guards would eat up the so little time she had left to warn Madame de Pompadour. 

The French woman surveyed the unkempt woman before her. She had seen her many years ago and she still wore the same clothing and her hair as wild a mess as the last time. She looked every bit the feral child she remembered from last time. And this was her angel’s wife? Well it was not so unbelievable. It was not as if she had not had an arranged marriage once too. But that had been taken care of to leave her a free woman, she had promised her husband that the only man she would leave him for was the King after all.  
Perhaps this woman, Rose, was the same as her former husband. A rather ordinary and somewhat dull person chained by societal obligation to an unwilling brilliant person so high above them. She did not think that to be mean necessarily. To Reinette The Doctor was just so obviously superior to this Rose person. Reinette thought that logically The Doctor and herself were a better suited couple in standing and ability. She did not know too much about this Rose person who ran loose like a tamed wolf. She would have thought her a servant by how obediently she along with the other man followed The Doctor’s commands. However, Reinette was trained from birth to spot signs in people and read body language. The Doctor and Rose were intimate, at least at one point, but she sensed distance between them. A wedge between them had formed that she might be able to fit into now. Rose would never be the one to leave such an angel, therefore it must be The Doctor who drove the wedge and Rose was the one with lingering attachments. At least more so than her Doctor she speculated. Reinette had wished when she had looked into her angel’s past that she had looked a bit more recently, but he had first seen her angel as a child and she wanted to do the same.  
“Why would I scream? I’ve known creatures far more fearsome than a lover’s wife. Like my angel the years pass and you do not age a day. I envy you that.” Said Reinette with an air of superiority that was not intentional. Rose did not miss the lover comment in regard to her husband. Nor the way Reinette’s manner of speaking seemed designed to put people in their place. She would have been insulted had Rose not figured that it was just the way Madame de Pompadour had been raised. Reinette had not come this far in status by being a pushover. And as for The Doctor being her lover, that had to be a one sided delusion on the French woman’s part from pining after The Doctor her whole life. What woman that this new Doctor met didn’t seem to fancy him? It was sort of an unwanted side effect from his regeneration Rose had discovered. Especially on their last shopping trip together on Earth with her Mum just after Christmas. Her old leather Doctor had never gotten as much attention on the street from women the same age as Rose, if any. Now that he was young and foxy, he seemed to turn the head of every shop girl and woman he came into contact with and some men. The Doctor had of course been friendly to everyone, but had always come back to her. And any attraction seemed t be one sided and The Doctor had appeared devoted to her.  
In just the span of a few hours, Rose did not believe that could possibly be enough time for The Doctor to completely forget his family, acquire a new lover, and consummate it. Not when it had taken them so long to actually just kiss again. But then Rose looked at her clothes in comparison to Reinette’s. Rose was a ratty chavvy mess and this French woman was a polished and educated courtesan. And Rose although clever and brave was feeling ever much just a girl from the Powell Estate with no A-levels. If The Doctor did prefer Reinette.. How was she to stop him? She already knew that being pregnant with his child wasn't enough to keep him definitely by her side. Perhaps if her marriage wasn’t on such shaky grounds she might be more confident than she was now. Rose reminded herself why she was here. The androids were coming, and she declared to the French woman,

“I've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years.” 

“Five years?” Questioned Reinette incredulously. That was a lot of time to wait for an attack. She felt very wary at the thought.

“Some time after your thirty seventh birthday. I er, I can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random. But they're coming. It's going to happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain. The Doctor does this better.” Apologized Rose to the famous historical figure that she couldn’t believe that she was so near to. Now that she was alone with Reinette and the focus was on the two of them, Rose was realizing just how nervous she was. She had grown up learning about this woman in school, hundreds of years later people would know the name of Madame de Pompadour. The same couldn’t really be said for her in a linear sense. She had help save countless planets, but as to if she actually ended up in any history books on those planets, Rose had no idea. They moved more like ghost, participating in history, but trying not to change it. Well they did try. 

Reinette was reflecting on this warning of times to come. She guessed that she should thank the woman for such an early warning but a narrower span of time to watch out for would have been more appreciated. 

“Then be exact, and I will be attentive.” Announced Reinette to The Doctor’s informant.

“There isn't time.” Rose tried to explain to the refined French woman. Nothing the woman said to Reinette made any sense to her. How could she have five years to wait but Rose did not have time. She was much more confused and Reinette protested, 

“There are five years. For most that would be enough time to relay any information.”

“For you. I haven't got five minutes.” Declared Rose in a worried and exasperated voice at the time remaining. Rose understood Reinette’s frustrations. Often Rose found how little time you had even with a time machine to be frustrating. She had to do a better job and spell it out as best she could.

“Then also be concise.” Implored the courtesan in a commanding voice as she sat down next to Rose. 

“Er, there's, say, a vessel, a ship, a sort of sky ship, and it's full of, well, you. Different bits of your life in different rooms, all jumbled up. I told you it was complicated. Sorry.” Stated Rose nervously. Again Rose found herself a bit intimidated by the commanding French woman. She wondered if this was how she spoke to The Doctor. With a presence like this, it was no wonder that Reinette was able to go as far as she did in her world. She reasoned very few would cross Reinette, but she was here to help save her and reminded herself that Reinette was as much in debt to her as The Doctor. If even a woman like Reinette needed saving from someone like Rose Tyler than Rose should not be so hard on herself. She could do what Reinette could not and that was save people from the unusual.

“There is a vessel in your world where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book, so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age while I, weary traveler, must always take the slower path. That does give explanation as to why he as well as yourself never seem to change clothing as well as age. If this is true than I can also assume that you are with the same child as I saw you many years ago?” Questioned Reinette with a hint of envy at The Doctor’s short and easy path. Or perhaps she was a bit bitter that The Doctor might choose to see her relatively whenever he liked and she was forced to wait for him. And she had waited for him and grown more eager with every visit’s end to see him again.

“He was right about you.” Said Rose to the now older woman. She was clever, brilliant and a fast learner.

“So, in five years these creatures will return. What can be done?” Asked Reinette of The Doctor’s wife, wanting to get to the meat of the subject at hand. 

“The Doctor says keep them talking. They're kind of programmed to respond to you now. You won't be able to stop them, but you might be able to delay them a bit.” Instructed Rose with the possibly life saving information. 

“Until?” Questioned Reinette half in dread and half in hope. 

“Until The Doctor can get there.” Declared Rose, much to Reinette’s anticipation. She would see her angel again, she just wished that it were sooner. She had had all the time in the world to think of him and sadly five more years longer. She found herself getting excited just at the mention of her angel. Reinette would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t fantasizing about how she wished to express her gratitude to her angel. All of this fantasizing done, how scandalously, while The Doctor’s very own pregnant wife was in the same room as her. At least Reinette had determined that Rose wasn’t perpetually pregnant. As having been a mother twice Reinette could relate to Rose on that level. It also meant that the relationship between her angel and the woman next to her still had some room in the middle.

“He's coming, then?” Asked Reinette, hopeful for confirmation, but obviously disappointed that it was Rose telling her this and not The Doctor himself.

“He promises.” Assured Rose, although thinking Reinette seemed a bit too eager, but then again who wouldn’t be to see the person who was going to save you from being chop shopped. And who you obviously fancied. 

“But he cannot make his promises in person?” Asked Reinette with obvious disappointment that Rose saw plainly as day. 

“He'll be there when you need him. That's the way it's got to be.” Explained Rose as best she could to the woman with no concept of time travel. Rose was never this meek or overwhelmed by a historical person in her presence before. She had brushed off being next to Charles Dickens as nothing. Though to be fair they were dealing with supposed zombies at the time. What it was that bothered Rose about Reinette was part driven by Rose's insecurity with her husband. Reasons to be jealous or threatened by another woman could always be just imagined... however, something at her core, her instincts told her that something between The Doctor and Reinette was not imagined as she spent more time with the French woman and spoke to her. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that her husband and this woman shared something that she and The Doctor were yet to, if ever now. 

“It's the way it's always been. The monsters and The Doctor. It seems you cannot have one without the other.” Stated Reinette with a hint of sadness on her voice. 

“Tell me about it.” Laughed Rose to herself, but then straightened up to hopefully explain correctly some more time travel jargon. 

“The thing is, you weren't supposed to have either. Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you.” Stated Rose as she tried to explain what a mess of time these androids were making for them to clean up. 

“Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child, and I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel.” Stated Reinette solemnly. Rose had a feeling that The Doctor would not approve of being called an angel. He was far from an angel, imperfect, and scarred. She saw past his youthful pretty boy exterior and knew the real man underneath. She wondered if Reinette would say the same about her old Doctor before he was so attractive and less moody. She had loved him then and this woman who lived for the lovely, rare and fine things in life, she could not see doing the same.

“Oi, you may be older than me now, but I am not a child. And I’m sick of people calling me that. The Doctor, my husband, thought me worthy enough to travel with him. And obviously thought me woman enough as evidence that I’m pregnant.” Hissed Rose to the courtesan.

“I meant no offense. You’re world and manner of speaking confounds me. And you are young if you believe that having a child by your Lord makes you woman in his eyes or bounds you to him. The world does not work that simply. Children did not bind me to my husband or I would not be the successful courtesan you see before you today. I take no more than what is freely given. Step carefully, or you will set yourself up for a great fall.” Advised Reinette to The Doctor’s wife.  
What Reinette spoke to Rose was what she saw as the truth of life. Well maybe except for the fact that she could sometimes get what was not freely given, if she tried hard enough. Reinette felt that this was sound guidance in the ways of love that she was gifting to, the at least young hearted, Rose. Thoughts of eternal holy attachment often set up women for heartache in her experience. Reinette's bond with her Angel was not to spite Rose, it was simply the natural progression of two extraordinary people being fated to meet and perhaps more.  
Any more arguing was interrupted by the voice of Mickey calling for Rose from the other room that Rose had just come from in Versailles. Quickly Rose ran to the voice only to have Reinette follow hot on her trail. Mickey had appeared from the other side of a tapestry which served as a door way back to the ship. He held up the heavy cloth carefully as he was somewhat afraid that if the ‘door’ closed he might not get back into his proper side.

“Rose! The time window where she's thirty seven. We found it. Right under our noses.” Shouted Mickey to the blond who stopped in front of him. However, much to Mickey and Rose’s panic Reinette did not stop at the tapestry but walked under the tapestry and past Mickey onto the ship. Reinette was tired of waiting for her angel and if he was just behind this tapestry then she would find him and be with him now. United they could put an end to this madness and be together in peace. Not only that but she had wondered about this world that these three strangers came from for so many years and now she had the courage to see it for herself.

“No, you can't go in there, The Doctor will go mad—“ Warned Rose as she chased after her into the corridor. Reinette was not disappointed in finding a strange world, but disappointingly The Doctor was nowhere to be seen in the cold metallic looking world. She had imagined her angel inhabiting a world a beautiful and fanciful as he was, but it was anything but. No wonder angel and demons stepped into hers.

“So, this is his world.” Asked the French Courtesan in a voice that was obviously overwhelmed, she then heard screaming and with wild eyes asked,

“What was that?” 

“The time window. The Doctor fixed an audio link.” Explained Mickey, The Doctor thought that this would be an easy way to keep communication between both worlds quicker in case they needed it. This answer confused Reinette and did not give her any comfort as to the sounds of distress she heard.

“Those screams. Is that my future?” Asked Reinette who was looking shaken and obviously scared. 

“Yeah. I'm sorry.” Said Rose trying to be comforting. She had been just like Reinette once on a space ship too with only The Doctor as an anchor and with no idea where he was. 

“Then I must take the slower path.” Stated the French woman who was now frightened of her future from the screams alone. Her thoughts of dread were interrupted by her own voice of all things shouting,

“Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now. You promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time.” The courtesan was gob smacked. That was her own voice and she said as much. 

“Rose, come on. We've got to go. There's, there's a problem.” Encouraged Mickey as he tried to lead Rose to the right window. Rose waved him off and asked for a moment with Reinette. Mickey nodded and raced to aid The Doctor as Rose turned her attention back to Reinette.

“Are you okay?” Asked Rose of the woman. Rose did not want to leave her terrified if that was at all possible. No one deserved to know that only a frightful future awaited them. Reinette looked at the woman in front of her again and a sort of respect for her flushed over her. She had stood proud and powerful in her world, while Rose had been obviously nervous and careful as if her every step could somehow damage the world. Once the tables were turned it was her who quivered like a child while Rose stood unshaken and calm in the face of danger. True it was not Rose’s future at stake but she had seen what the clockwork people could do and they could, if they wanted, kill Rose and her child. But there she stood offering comfort to her. Perhaps The Doctor was not simply burdened with her after all. How many other monsters were there in The Doctor’s world that Rose also faced along with her angel? After all The Doctor had said when she was so very young that monsters had nightmares about him. So The Doctor must be very familiar with monsters in this world and naturally so would Rose.

“No, I'm very afraid. But you and I both know, don't we, Rose, The Doctor is worth the monsters.” Stated Reinette as she went back through the tapestry and Rose had to agree, he had always been worth the monsters and the danger to her. She just hoped that she was worth as much to him as she ran off to aid in saving the day.

\----------------------  
Reinette continued to shout into her bedroom fire place for The Doctor much to King Louis’ frustration. It was five years later and the Palace of Versailles was overrun with frightful invaders dressed in even more ghastly masks. Their appearance alone was enough to disarm without the strange blades that they carried. 

“We must go. No one is coming to help us.” Declared Louis who very much wanted them to evacuate through one of the many exits the palace had to offer. He pulled Reinette up only to find that the bedroom door was now blocked by three of the androids and most notably the very same one that had haunted Reinette as a little girl.

“You are complete. You will come.” Ordered the droid of the courtesan.

Back on the spaceship Rose had finally caught up with Mickey and The Doctor. The screaming continued and The Doctor was racing about trying to open the portal to its source. A large screen between two bulkheads of the ship’s wall.  
“You found it, then?” Asked Rose, hopeful that they could stop the Androids in time before they hurt Reinette and/ or seriously damaged history. 

“They knew I was coming. They blocked it off.” Growled The Doctor in frustration as the group watched well dressed French men and women being menaced by droids. All the while Reinette and the King of France were being roughly escorted down a corridor.  
\-----------------------  
“Where are we going?” Demanded Reinette of her childhood menace. Mechanically the drone then answered, 

“The teleport has limited range. We must have proximity to the time portal.” This of course was gibberish to Reinette and she spat in anger, 

“Your words mean nothing. You are nothing.” 

\---------------------------  
“I don't get it. How come they got in there?” Questioned Rose as she watched the ballroom scene visible from the screen. 

“They teleported. You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short range teleports will do the trick.” Explained The Doctor as he continued to work at the controls frantically at the console. 

“Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!” Declared Rose as if it were obvious and not understanding what the big deal was. However The Doctor just raced over to another control panel on the wall next to the screen and soniced it. 

“We can't use the TARDIS. We're part of events now.” He shouted as Mickey suggested,

“Well, can't we just smash through?” Obviously if they were linked to the ship then the best way of stopping the droids from coming back was to destroy the portal.

“Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck.” Yelled The Doctor, shooting down Mickey’s idea. 

“We don't have a truck.” Answered Mickey back obviously not keeping up with The Doctor. 

“I know we don't have a truck!” Bellowed The Doctor now getting very frustrated with the conversational interruptions when he was trying to save Reinette's life and preserve the timelines.

“Well, we've got to try something.” Shouted Rose. She could not stand to just stand and watch another person fall victim to the malfunctioning robotic butchers on a screen as if it were some snuff film. 

“No. Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back.” The Doctor told Rose, but as he looked through the mirror once more he saw that Reinette was truly in deep trouble this time and he needed to rescue her. Every second counted and he could not let someone so dear to him die if he could do something about it. Then as if there weren’t enough companions in the room Arthur strolled back into the room and The Doctor had a wild idea.  
\--------------------------  
“Could everyone just calm down? Please.” Entreated Reinette to the room of frantic partygoers as if the only concern was their unmannerly behavior and not dangerous androids. She had to keep everyone calm and safe until her Doctor, her angel, her dare she think, love, came to save her.

“Such a commotion. Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court, and we are French. I have made a decision. And my decision is no, I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world, and I have no desire to set foot there again.” Announced Reinette to the room and the androids with all the presence of a Queen. She remembered Rose’s warning and she needed to keep talking until her angel would come to her rescue. In the meantime she was not going to be bullied by a monster from her childhood any longer. This had gone on long enough. Then the masked demons said something truly horrifying,

“We do not require your feet.” Said the Android simply and then two female dressed androids pushed Reinette to her knees. She was starting to become very frightened again but did her best to conceal it behind a commanding presence that she hoped could delay the inevitable long enough to be saved. She had to do her part. 

“You think I fear you, but I do not fear you even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours.” Declared Reinette to her tormentors in defiance of their threatening presence. Then an unusual but not unfamiliar sound was heard in the ballroom. A horse’s neigh and then the sound of galloping hooves. Unheard of in a ballroom, so where was it coming from? Then as if by some magic a mirror over the mantelpiece smashed into pieces as The Doctor, riding on the back of a horse, jumped through it. Giving a reassuring and flirtatious wink to Reinette he then reared the horse before dismounting it with the presence of a man who had everything under control. 

“Madame de Pompadour. You look younger every day.” Smiled The Doctor roguishly to the lovely woman who blushed in kind. 

“What the hell is going on?” Demanded King Louis in confusion. 

“Oh. This is my lover, the King of France.” Reinette remembering her manners introduced The Doctor a bit awkwardly to the King. Though she could not do it too properly because after all she was still being held on the ground at knife point.

“Yeah? Well, I'm the Lord of Time, and I'm here to fix the clock.” Stated The Doctor full of bravado and not in the mood to be intimidated by someone as trivial as the King of France. How cute, ruler of one country on one tiny planet. He had known people who were rulers over whole galaxies. The Time Lord then took the mask off the main android’s head revealing the clockwork beneath causing many gasps. The Droid pointed its blade at his throat. The blade was a good bit of symbolism to The Doctor. He had been cut off, by his own choice he now realized, from his family and TARDIS and he had done it without thinking as he looked back at the brick wall where once the portal to the spaceship was. He had been so mad on the idea of saving Reinette and stopping the droids that he had thought of nothing else and now he was stuck, but so were the droids too.

“Forget it. It's over. For you and for me. Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand. I’ve always been bad luck it seems. Cursed or a curse.” Mourned The Doctor as the full magnitude of what he had lost hit him and the state he left Rose and Mickey in.  
\-----------------------------

Thousands of years in the future on a lonely spaceship two people stood dumbfounded just staring at a broken screen.

“What happened? Where did the time window go? How's he going to get back?” Asked Mickey his voice so scared and panicked, but Rose did not say a thing. Tears just ran down her cheek. Her husband had seemingly left her for another woman. It was slightly more complicated than that, but at its core that was it.  
\------------------------------  
In a ballroom in France The Doctor was having his last words with the hated enemy that had cost him so much and his words were harsh. He watched as the androids desperately pounded on their return switches to find nothing happening. Their purpose now pointless. 

“The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up.” The Doctor hissed to the androids and seemingly at his words they all started to wind down. One of them even fell down backwards and broke apart. Now that the monsters were done with that left the humans to sort. 

“You all right?” Asked The Doctor of Reinette but not in his usual concerned or jovial voice. He was too much at turmoil with his emotions for that. 

“What's happened to them?” Asked Reinette as The Doctor helped her to her feet. 

“They've stopped. They have no purpose now.” Stated The Doctor and that was funny because neither did he. He had very much stopped too. ‘Rose’, thought The Doctor.  
\--------------------------  
Mickey was a nervous mess he just kept looking from the broken screen to Rose to the screen and back to Rose. The gravity of the situation had crashed down on him and he did not like it. It terrified him.

“We can't fly the TARDIS without him. How's he going to get back?” Asked Mickey helpless. Rose didn’t know either as she looked up at the stars through one of the ceiling windows. The Doctor could do amazing things but to time travel, he needed the TARDIS. A fact that was made even clearer by the continued presence of the time and space ship standing nearby.

Rose just stood there speechless. The Doctor had left her behind, forever. She had warned him not to leave her behind, but that never was an actual threat worth heeding. How do you make someone rue the day they left you behind when they had already left and the chances were next to nothing that you’d see them again? He had made his choice and it had not been her or his family. She didn’t know how to feel at first. She knew that as a Time Lord he had a duty to preserve timelines, but she was his wife. Wasn’t that more important? She felt wronged and selfish all at the same time, but then she thought of their child. What were they to do now? A brief wave of denial then swept across her mind and it told her that there was no way The Doctor would leave her and their baby behind on an unknown space ship with no way to get back to them again. He could never do that, he had to have a plan to get back, even if he said it was a one way trip. But as the half hour she stood there waiting for his return turned into an hour and then into two, and then into three, Rose’s heart sank. Briefly she wondered if the TARDIS could provide food, water and oxygen enough for their short lives without refueling. Could she keep sane, would her child have to eventually die alone on the ship when her mother died of old age and left her unwillingly behind to live in solitude? She wondered if she could spend the rest of her life in a parked TARDIS that she herself could not fly. That was when she realized that she did not have a choice. Choice had been taken away from her and all that was left was survival. And poor poor Mickey, she had trapped him here right along with her. If it were just her then maybe she could stomach the solitude better, but to know she trapped a friend as well…Rose let out a sigh that bordered on a sob and apologetically said to her friend,

“I’m sorry, Mickey. I am so sorry, but I think we’re going to be here for a long time…” 

And with that Rose entered the TARDIS, now her home forever without a doubt and grimly most likely to be her tomb one day as well. Rose walked into the TARDIS which felt so empty without The Doctor in it and Rose figured she better get used to that. The TARDIS offered a comforting hum to the humans as Mickey wordlessly followed behind in equal disbelief and not knowing what else to do. The both of them broke off and went to their respective rooms to think. Then maybe soon they both would feel calm enough to talk about the future that lay before them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Doctor you got some s’plainin to do!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	21. Abandoned hope and a long way from home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reinette gets to finally help The Doctor.

**Complications**

By The Plot Thinens

** Chapter 21 – Abandoned hope and a long way from home **

****

In the palace of Versailles The Doctor looked up at the night sky through the window of Madame de Pompadour’s sitting room lost in regretful thoughts as he stared in the direction of stars that perhaps Rose might thousands of years in the future be looking at. He shook around the liquid in his glass as he heard Reinette approach with a similar glass. The king had held a toast to the monster machines’ defeat in the Time Lord’s honor, but The Doctor did not feel like celebrating. All he had energy for it seemed was to make sure his last companion, Arthur would be well taken care of, never whipped and fed lots of apples and oats till the day he died. Wanting The Doctor to have a quiet place to rest as much as she wanted to be alone with him, Reinette begged the King’s pardon and led The Doctor back to her chambers. The King was no fool and could see that The Doctor looked heart sick and allowed the dismissal and privacy. It was the least he could do for The Doctor’s services.

  
“You know all their names, don't you? I saw that in your mind. The name of every star.” Stated Reinette as she looked at her mournful angel.   
  


“What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything.” Remarked The Doctor. King. Time Lord, Lady, they were all just things to make someone feel big and important, but they did not speak a word about the person’s soul. For that you had to get to know them.  
  


“Like The Doctor.” Said Reinette in a teasing voice to hopefully raise his spirits. It seemed to work or he was at least kind enough to humor her and in a voice equally as teasing  
  


“Like Madame de Pompadour.” He then took a slip from his glass very much liking how the liquid was calming his sense when he ordered his body not to metabolize it.  
  


“I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think.” Remarked Reinette as she gazed up at the shiny lights in the sky.   
  


“From time to time.” Stated The Doctor as he pondered over the many times he had been stranded, especially as his third form. Back then he had thought that he had been trapped the most and missing out on the most. But even then as he had grumbled at being stuck, he'd had his mobile home, The TARDIS. His 'little piece of home'. How young he was then as he thought of what he now had left behind. 

Reinette’s love for The Doctor had only increased tenfold with every time she laid eyes on him and now that she could turn around and find him still there it was all she could do not to tenderly caress and kiss him and hope that somehow she could ease his pain.   
  


“In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?” Question Reinette of the man who was her lifelong love and lifesaver.   
  


“Mmm. Pretty much. It’s funny. I kept trying to do the right thing... well, the right thing for me anyway. Got what I was dragging my feet on, hmm?…Git me. But…It’s not the way I wanted it to happen. The price for what I’ve done… Maybe I can still get back to them, …might take a while …If I even knew where they were... But I knew I’d be trapping myself. I knew it.” Rambled The Doctor in tones that ranged from trying to sound pulled together, to guilty, to just sad. Truthfully he was only giving her half his attention.  
  


“Yet, still you came.” Noted Reinette, very grateful and humbled by his sacrifice.   
  


“Yeah, I did, didn't I? Catch me doing that again. Fixed points, Reinette. History needs you. And you do grow on a person once introduced.” Smiled The Doctor when he probably would have rather cried. He just took another sip of his wine. He was stuck here.   
  


“There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?” Suggested Reinette, not being able to stand seeing her love so sad and trapped. Oh how The Doctor had thought of that, but it was no use.  
  


“When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window. I'll, I'll pay for any damage.” Explained The Doctor who then looked off into the distance as an odd thought dawned on him.

“Er, that's a thought, I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?” Questioned The Doctor, his impressive presence reduced to that of a lost child. Reinette smiled at her protector from all these years that now needed her protecting. If he was to be stuck here then she would see to it with every bit of pull she had that he would be cared for and kept in the best comfort possible.  
  


“So, here you are, my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me.” Smiled Reinette to her love.   
  


“Yep, the slow path. Here's to the slow path.” Smiled The Doctor. There was nothing he could do for the moment so the two raised their glasses in a toast. If he was to be stuck here then he could at least count the blessings that he had preserved the timelines and that he had someone like Reinette to share the slow path with. Well for a little while, what he was going to do with the rest of his time he did not know. Perhaps he could try catching a ride with one of his former selves if he could do it without hurting the timelines, but it would be at least a century before he would have that opportunity and that would require a lot of planning to get back to Rose, something he normally wasn’t very good at. 

“It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path.” Mused Reinette as she looked The Doctor up and down with a subtle eye. The Doctor’s explanation about the time windows had given her an idea for them both to get what they wanted.  
  


“Well, I'm not going anywhere.” Smiled The Doctor just slightly, he was resigned to the slow path ahead for him with Reinette.   
  


“Oh, aren't you? Take my hand.” She ordered in a voice that was a little worked up. The Doctor followed Reinette hand in hand. It was only when he realized that she was taking him to her bedroom that he started getting nervous. He was flattered but it was much too soon if ever for something like that. Then he realized that she was looking past the large bed with perfumed flower petals resting on it.

“It's not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail.” Explained Reinette as The Doctor’s eyes locked on the familiar fireplace. Reminiscing on the old thing.  
  


“The fireplace. The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?” Smirked The Doctor as he looked over the object that had started them both on this adventure.   
  


“Many years ago, in the hope that a door once opened, may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?” Questioned Reinette, hoping that she had been correct in her assumption. Once he had his access to his world and his ship called TARDIS then her angel would be happy again and that was what she wanted.   
  


“You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky. If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky.” Mused The Doctor as he tapped around the fireplace and finally tapped the right place on the mantel. The Doctor let out a cheer and Reinette amused at his returned jovial mood asked what he had found.  
  


“Loose connection.” The Doctor then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to fix the connection.   
  


“Need to get a man in.” He smirked as he repeated what he had said to Reinette all those years ago. He then gave the mantel a thump.  
  


“Wish me luck!” Smirked The Doctor but then to his surprise Reinette would not. That’s when he realized Reinette’s fear. The fireplace was taking him away again and success might mean that she might not see him for who knew how long. Or maybe Reinette had needed to share this possible escape for The Doctor before she could without guilt have her slow path with him. Reinette had shared so much with The Doctor and he unknowingly with her. She would not hold something back from him. 

The Mantel was done turning and The Doctor saw that it had indeed worked and he was back on the spaceship! Not wanting Reinette to worry, he quickly leaned down and looked into the fireplace to ask Reinette on the other side,  
  


“Madame de Pompadour! Still want to see those stars?” The Doctor was so overjoyed that he couldn’t hold still in fact he needed more than anything to move. Always moving always on to the next adventure that without thinking about he had offered the trip of a life time to Reinette.  
  


“More than anything.” She smiled at her angel.   
  


“Give me two minutes. Pack a bag.” He smiled to the lovely woman who would be running away with him from history.   
  


“Am I going somewhere?” She asked confused, to which The Doctor grinned,   
  


“Go to the window. Pick a star, any star.” The Doctor ran off to the next room toward the TARDIS and Reinette ran off to wait.

The Doctor was elated. He would see Rose again and hell he was even happy that he’d see Mickey. He looked about but much to his surprise Rose and Mickey were nowhere to be found. For a brief moment of fear he worried that the clockwork Androids had gone after them while he was gone, but he had counted them all in the ballroom. All of them were there and broken on the floor. All the Doctor could see was the TARDIS. Then he thought that they might be in there. A quick check in on his slight connection with his child’s mind confirmed his suspicions and they were indeed in the TARDIS. He’d just go back and grab Reinette for the trip and surprise them. Rose and Mickey from what he had seen seemed to like her and he was sure that one extra passenger for a trip across the stars would not be a bother on his bigger on the inside ship. Who wouldn’t enjoy traveling with such a wonderful and intelligent woman? He turned back to the fireplace and crouched down to find his lovely French girl.  
  
  


“Reinette? You there, Reinette?” Called out The Doctor, but found that no one was to be seen. 

It was dark in the Palace of Versailles and raining. An eerie mood seemed to have a hold on the place and The Doctor cautiously made his way through the rooms.

“Reinette? Oh, hello.” Called out The Doctor for his French admirer only to be greeted by the King of France.   
  


“You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by six.” Said the King of France mournfully.   
  


“Ah.” Stated The Doctor, slightly annoyed by this bad timing. If he could get a hold of the date than maybe it would be faster just to meet up with her with the TARDIS.  
  


“Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face.” Noted King Louis as he took a sealed letter from a drawer.   
  


“She spoke of you many times. Often wished you'd visit again. You know how women are.” The King declared as he handed The Doctor the letter. 

‘People regardless of their gender want to see friends and loved ones long absent,’ thought The Doctor as he took the letter confused. If she had just left to go out why did the King seem so melancholy. Did Reinette have him that wrapped around her finger? There was the sound of a horse and the crack of a whip.  
  
  


“There she goes.” Announced the king as a hearse was seen out the window going down the driveway in the pouring rain. The Doctor was devastated, poor Reinette. She had died without him fulfilling his promise to take her to see the stars.  
  


“Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only forty three when she died. Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard.” Mourned the King who then put his attention to the envelope in The Doctor’s hands.

“What does she say?” The Doctor watched the hearse for a moment more before looking at the envelope in his hand and then put the unopened letter inside his jacket. The King seeing that that had been too personal a request from the Lord of Time.  
  


“Of course. Quite right.” Remarked the King. The Doctor then walked back to the fireplace as if he were dragging the weight of that hearse behind him. He leaned up against the mantel, spun sadly back into his world, and unsealed the letter. The words were sad and desperate for their unlikely meeting up again. But still they were hopeful as she had seen the world in his head. So how sad it did make it that with such hope and so many things possible that her hope had been all for nothing? She had died and that was that. Warily The Doctor walked up to his TARDIS he was conflicted, he yearned for solitude to mourn but at the same time he needed to see Rose. He was a mess of anger, guilt, sadness, and sorrow for many reasons. He opened the TARDIS door, not bothering to take off his coat as he walked up to the console and began to close down the time windows so that they would never cause trouble again. The noise in the console room had, with the aid of the TARDIS, carried to Rose and Mickey who had gone to investigate who else was in the TARDIS. At the sight of The Doctor moving about the console, Mickey and Rose felt relief that they would not be stranded.  
  
  


“You’ve been gone five bloody hours! I thought you said you couldn’t come back! How did you get back?” asked Mickey first in elation that he was no longer stuck on the space ship. The Doctor, however was still busily working the dematerialization process and not looking up he answered very dismissively,

“Oh almost didn’t, but got lucky. Reinette, thought of something clever. Managed to get back. What’s the matter, Mickey? Not happy to see me?” The Doctor then finished pulling a stiff lever and they were safely in the vortex. The Time Lord wanted to do his best to hide his loss from Mickey the Idiot. He had been so wrapped up in his grief and trying to dematerialize the TARDIS that he had not looked over to see that Rose was quietly standing next to Mickey. But as soon as The Doctor had brought his somewhat sad looking eyes up and saw the look on Rose’s face, he knew that he had made a terrible mistake by saying that. He had broken her singular heart and those words he’d said earlier had not helped.  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:
> 
> Sorry guys, but making this Moffat story work in my AU universe took a lot of stuff…time..something to do it right…I hope.


	22. Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose takes the reins.

Complications

By the Plot Thinens

Chapter 22 - Separation

  
  


“You know, I loved you when you were ‘ugly as sin’, yeah? That’s what people told me. 'What is a pretty young girl like her doing with an old man like him?' Funny, because I used to think 'what’s a bloke like him doing with a chav like me?' But you were never ugly to me, I saw you for who you were. I would have loved you no matter what you looked like. And I did just that. And you pull this on me and your family because some famous woman was willing to put out to you...She must have meant something to you! More than I mean to you, if you would risk never seeing me again. And you had more than enough time alone together. Heck, I even left you alone in a room with her, what moron I am." Rose cursed herself for being such a trusting fool.

"You came prancing out in that tight suit spreading your feathers like a peacock for every lady who walks by. And after all the grief you gave me about pretty boys flirting with me…did you stop flirting when you became one? No, and now you just treat me like a mistake you need to gloss over. Ya know I thought that.... despite it all, you still... you still wanted to be with me. That we just had to work through yet another barrier that showed up. I mean, you didn’t just drop me off at Mum’s after we met Sarah Jane and I thought that meant we still had hope this could work... I thought you were my husband, damn it! This is not how you treat your wife, you cheat!” Shouted Rose in anger at her husband’s behavior and rightfully so. 

Mickey stood by as mute as a statue. He was feeling that it would probably be best to not put himself in the middle of this argument, even though he wanted to clock The Doctor. But The Doctor was the one driving, so he told himself that he would be just standing by to help if things got violent. Which he knew they wouldn’t, but it made him feel better. 

Rose had watched The Doctor as he did, what looked like to her, a funeral march around the console as he put the TARDIS into the vortex. A look of such devastation and lose she had only seen something like it on her own face in the mirror over the many times she had lost a loved one. The Doctor carried the look of love lost and cut short in its prime. She had thought that hopefully the affections of Reinette had been one sided, but the look on her husband earlier said otherwise. In any other circumstances she might have felt pity for such a look on anyone’s face, but Rose had had enough.

The Doctor looked hurt and floundering for words to save the situation. He knew Rose was upset with him but he had not realized just how upset. Hearing such pained words from Rose and directed at him was tearing up his hearts. Instinct took over and before The Doctor could think better of it he began to try to fix the damage before his thoughts of Rose’s mortality caught up with him again.

“Rose, I am your husband. I'm our child’s father, and of course I want to be with you…it’s just…we…” The Doctor tried to say in a comforting voice, but Rose was having none of it. She felt manipulated and painfully reminded how different the two of them were. She didn’t think that The Doctor saw her as an equal at all, just an upset animal that he could coax into docility if he said the right words. This was so completely different from how John used to be in fidelity.

“No you can't be the father, you can't be! The man I made this child with would have never cheated on me. NEVER! Especially not like this. You’re not John! You’re not even my Doctor. I can't take it anymore I just can't. This isn't fair. Doctor, you told me not to give up on you when you were John, but if any of him was ever you… I can't believe that he would want me to suffer like this. Being treated like a throw away pet, because that’s all I am to you isn’t it, just a pet? And you can go about and get as many pets as you want, can't you? And in no time flat obviously! Well you can find someone else to keep as a pet. Take me home, Doctor! I want to go home! All this stress is bad for the baby.” Shouted Rose so loud that her voice echoed in the large room. 

The Doctor was taken aback by this statement. With heightening worry and confusion declared,

“But you are home, Rose! The TARDIS is your home.” At one point Rose would have agreed implicitly with that statement, but now the TARDIS that this Doctor lived in was feeling less and less like home. Which was sad since Rose considered the TARDIS a friend. Well something more than a friend, hard to describe, but right now she couldn’t deal with anything that was her new life at the moment. She craved the feeling of home, undisputed. A place where she had never felt rejected.

“No, I want to go back home to the place my husband and I were going to live our lives together.” Rose said in a pained voice. Admitting that you made the wrong choice was always painful. That voice in her head just kept screaming that she should have taken The Doctor’s first offer of the house over the traveling. Though her heart fought against the idea as survival instincts took over. She had loved traveling to new places in the TARDIS and helping people, but she had too long lived in uncertainty and after letting The Doctor control the reins of her life for so long, she thought it best to take them back for herself.

  
  


The Doctor didn't know what to do. He didn't want Rose to leave. But he couldn't keep her against her will. Mickey was working up the nerve to demand The Doctor agree to her wishes when Rose got frustrated with his hesitation and pulled a random switch on the TARDIS console. The Doctor and Rose knew it wouldn’t do anything. Rose couldn't fly the TARDIS, well not normally. That made it all the more surprising when it did move. The TARDIS shook about and The Doctor reached out to catch Rose before she fell, but she caught herself on a coral strut and got right back up. The TARDIS stopped and Rose made her way out at a run.

“Rose, no you don't even know what's out there!” Called out The Doctor worried for Rose as he watched his pregnant wife leave ahead of him unprotected. He tried to run for the door but the TARDIS angrily slammed the door in his face. Irritated he opened the door and ran to catch up only to see that the TARDIS had indeed brought them back to John Smith’s house. The house was looking a bit in need of some repair work but it was well enough. Rose walked up to the blue front door of the house and with a heavy breath. She realized now that she was effectively trading one blue door for another.

  
  


“Please, Rose. Don't do this to us.” The Doctor implored as he caught up to his fleeing wife. Those words were the last straw. It was always about him, wasn’t it?

“I didn't do anything to us, it was all you! From the start you wanted to drive me away, well I get the message now. Loud and clear! I’m not going to stand around anymore to see what you decide to do with me. I’m being proactive in my own future. If your plan was to eventually make me live like a widow, I’m already way ahead of you. It's better than suffering your cruelty and neglect! I’m doing what John would want me to do, dumping your sorry ass for cheating on me!”

“But I don't...I didn’t” Said The Doctor but he stopped to think of her words. Was that what he had done, he was so busy thinking about saving a great historical figure and preventing a paradox, that he didn’t even think about how Rose would feel. He was too wrapped up in how he felt. He had not even thought about what he had found himself in the middle of with Reinette when they were interacting. It had all been happening so fast that he didn’t have time to process it. But Rose had had time to process it, five hours worth. What must she have thought of and of him? But when she said neglect and cruelty, she meant before all this, didn’t she? When he had started being distant and let Mickey onboard the TARDIS. To make matters worse he had left her with Mickey as a guardian. He wanted to somehow plead his case some more, but Rose was already through the door. Out of her pocket she had pulled the old house key that she thought she might never need again but kept as a keepsake. With it she had opened the door and unlocked it. 

“Rose, I had to do something! Reinette is a fixed point in time. You’ve seen what happens when you try to change time.” Explained The Doctor hoping to reason with her but only coming off as condescending by accident. 

“So I guess you and me, together isn’t necessarily a ‘fixed point’ to you?!” Jeered Rose. Normally she might be more inclined to listen to his fixed point excuse as Rose knew about such things. But she thought that in this instance he was using it as a shield to cower behind and avoid their obviously glaring matrimonial issues. Whatever the circumstance might have been the Doctor was the one who had brought them to his point.

“If you wanted a divorce so badly then you could have just been a man and asked for it… Instead of dragging my feelings through the mud. If you can’t find the guts to say it then I'll do it for you! Let's get a divorce! I don’t deserve this treatment and you don’t deserve me or our child. Enjoy your solitude, Time Lord. And if it’s too painful watching your daughter grow up then you can at least send child support every month. ” Growled Rose. Slam. Click. And the door was shut. Then with what strength she had left, Rose ran up to her and John's room and threw herself on to her slightly dusty bed as safely as a pregnant woman could and began to weep. It was not just the tears from what she had suffered. She cried the tears that she should have when her husband died to save her life twice.

  
  


The Doctor stood there in front of the blue door that had just slammed in his face. His mind blank from all that had just transpired. He was so focused on the door he did not hear Mickey swaggering up behind him. Clapping.

  
  


“Congratulations, Doctor. You succeeded. You wanted to treat Rose like dirt enough that she would leave you and that was just what she has done. Good job.” applaud Mickey. The Doctor gritted his teeth but then pondered that statement. Well if this is what he wanted all along then why did if feel so bad? And why now did he feel the urge to want to do everything in his power to set it right? What had he been expecting would happen? Would Rose leaving him magically take all his pain and loneliness away with it? For being such a wise ancient impressive being this was certainly a half baked plan. And he had done it practically without thinking. He had found a way to get what he wanted without having planned it. But now it wasn't what he wanted... Was it too late?

“That was your plan, yeah? Make her think you don’t care anymore so she flocks over to me? Well I don't want your sloppy seconds or rather she was by the time you got to her. She was mine at one point. Would have been easy enough to leave her behind in the first place. Or you could have just told Rose that she was just a whore to you. A whore that ya knocked up and you were just going to get rid of. Didn’t want to deal with nappies, yeah?” Noted Mickey.

The Doctor was enraged at how Mickey had referred to Rose and his unborn child. How dare anyone, even her so called friend, refer to Rose in such a manner. That mechanic had no idea how special Rose was. He went to swing at Mickey but the Time Lord missed and fell forward on his face.

“Ha, see you do care about her! Now man up and be a husband and father to your family or I'll tell Jackie and Sarah Jane what you just did to Rose!” Threatened Mickey. The Doctor shivered at the mention of telling the two older woman what he had done and Mickey reveled in that feeling of putting the supposed superior being in his place. Mickey hated The Doctor more often than not, but he knew that for some reason Rose loved this alien bastard. He also knew that The Doctor loved Rose. For whatever damn fool reason unknown to him, The Doctor was being stupid and trying to push Rose away and flirting with other women to do it. If he would stop taking ‘stupid pills’ for five minutes then The Doctor would see what an idiot he was being. Mickey knew all men got jittery about being a father and Mickey assumed that this was the alien equivalent of jitters. If The Doctor would just calm down and think clearly long enough then he would realize what an unnecessary git he was being too.

“I’m going home, but if Rose needs me I will be back here in a heartbeat, because I’m her friend. A lover should start out that way, as a friend. Now I don’t know if you can even salvage the damaged friendship you have with your wife, but if you can’t fix that then she will never let you into her heart ever again. The next time I see you, you better be worshiping at her feet and begging forgiveness. Like she's a goddess!" Lectured Mickey. The mechanic paused for a moment and thought about his childhood with a father that was never there and what the absence did to him growing up. Maybe in a sense he was getting revenge at his absentee father through another rubbish father. He would have loved to have gone back in time and stand up to his father for the sake of his younger self. But despite having lived in a Time and Spaceship, he could not do this. So he was doing this here and now at another rubbish dad for the sake of others, the way he wish someone had done for little him. 

"Rose grew up without a father and I’d rather not see her child have to do that too.” Growled Mickey to the Time Lord. The man then started walking down the street to the familiar bus stop he had visited over a year ago.

‘This is the life that you wanted. Are you happy now?’ asked a voice in The Doctor’s head. Not giving him time to answer the voice then continued in a sarcastic tone,

I understand what happened, Doctor. Been eating beef burgers for so long that you wanted a steak! Old ball and chain got boring for you? The words cut through The Doctor like a dagger until he had to admit aloud,

“I abandoned her to go dance with a French courtesan. A woman who even left her own husband for a man with more power.” She was an amazing woman, that could not be denied or she wouldn’t be remember by history. But she was basically trained in the art of seduction and to be interesting at all cost to the man who caught her eye…And he’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker. In a sense Reinette was a lot like him. No wonder they had hit it off so well. He couldn’t blame her, she offered but he didn’t have to take. 

“She had been decent enough to give me back to Rose, she didn’t have to show me the fire place.” Noted The Doctor in Reinette’s defense. All the blame was on him. And she didn’t know he was married until later and even marriage had a different definition back then, the fault was his. And now because of his moment of weakness. His desire to skirt responsibility for a bit to enjoy the unattached life he used to have. Like it could be called, life. He was alone and Rose was heartbroken. 

He needed to think about Rose now and not himself. He had thought even in the depths of his despair back in pre-revolutionary France that he could always find a way back to Rose somehow…it would just take a while and he mourned that. He had never stopped to think what might happen if he did not get back to Rose in what, under the circumstances, was considered a timely manner. All along the person he had been sorry for was himself, who would trust someone like that?

“Rose doesn’t trust me! I can’t be a married man if I’m going to be as fickle as the wind. Even I wouldn’t take me back! She doesn’t think I’ll be there for her whenever she needs me!” The Doctor mourned as the thoughts of his misdeeds towards his wife and family kept piling up on him.

‘Oh, thank goodness I didn’t sleep with Reinette!’ said The Doctor to himself, relieved that he had not sunken that low at least. Just the thought that he could have now terrified him. He hoped that would have been a line he’d never cross. He loved Rose too much to cheat on her... but considering their relationship and the bumps in it, kissing Reinette would probably be as bad an infidelity to Rose as having sex would have been. Just the fact that he had fallen for another woman, or at least become infatuated, and shared a kiss with her, in the span of one day was now upsetting him. When Rose had to wait months for him as The Doctor to have kissed her again, probably wouldn’t have made Rose feel any better if she knew about the kiss in Paris. But still with Reinette there had been temptation even if he didn’t want to admit it. Oh god, the more he thought about it the worse it got and the more he saw how the odds were stacked against him. He was a terrible man. He’d give anything at that moment to be half the man his human counterpart had been! The Doctor reflected on the path ahead which he saw only guaranteed loneliness. Even if it was a short time he would not be lonely for as long as his family lived. Rose had spent so much time pursuing him. It was only fair that he start pursuing her. It couldn’t end like this. Rose didn’t deserve the heartache. He owed Rose and his child a million times more than he was doing. The Doctor ran back into his TARDIS to do what he knew needed to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes:   
> Doctor, you better get to work.
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	23. Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is going it alone while The Doctor haunts her peripheral.

**Complications**

Chapter 23 - Mess

“I'm sorry John. I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I'm sure if you knew you never would have asked me to begin with.” Rose had sobbed an hour ago, but was now calming down.

Rose had cried herself out and was laying on her back staring at the ceiling above her bed. She was going to have to raise this child the way she probably should have in the first place, had she known she was pregnant at the time, as a widowed single mother. Just like her mother… When the offer was first made, she had been worried that if she had taken The Doctor up on just keeping the house and parting ways that the house would be missing something that would just make it feel empty. Her younger self had been right. It did feel empty without her tall dark and goofy looking love lying next to her. Or tinkering around downstairs. Or ironing the damn laundry, she really missed that. Heck, she even missed tripping over his piles of papers he sometimes left on the floor during grading. She threw her arm over her faces and sucked in a hard breath of air. She guesses she'd have to toughen up like her mother had and live on pictures and memories too. It would be hard, but her mother had managed, so she knew it could be done… She still didn't know what she was going to tell her child about all this. Was she going to tell her about The Doctor? Or could she just lie to her child and only tell her about John. She thought about the house and all the trinkets and mementos of John's that must still be inside their home. There were pictures enough to fabricate a hero worshipping story about a dead father, but she found that she didn’t like that her mother had candy coated her father’s career and life. She’d want her child to know everything, but she wasn’t even sure what everything was yet. She couldn't really describe the whole picture that was her child's father without sounding like a crazy person. Fortunately that was far enough down the road that she still had time to think about it first. She needed a distraction and sat up in her bed and look around the room. Things were not in the place she remembered. Someone had been through the house, probably the police and her mother after she went missing for a whole year. A few things seemed scattered from when the police had obviously search through but at least it looked like her mother had tried to put things back in place for her.

Rose was beside herself, she was in a mood to remember and to forget all at the same time. There was no mistaking that what she was feeling was probably the processing in her mind that The Doctor never had her hold still long enough to do. Rose asked herself what she wanted to do and eventually she decided that she wanted to go through some of John’s things. A few things were about the floor including an old blue journal that looked as if it were kicked over when the bookshelves were moved. How the cops overlooked a personal journal was something she wanted to know and she picked up the book and began to read it. It became clearer when she flipped through the first few pages which contained hurried words but mostly sketches why it had been overlooked, the cops probably weren’t much for art work. She didn’t know that John sketch and she was momentarily excited and amused to learn this new fact about her husband, but the book being something that John wrote and didn't tell her about, in light of the situation that made it tainted. She was angry at John for unknowingly deceiving her, it seemed like he was a man of secrets on many levels. She then flipped to a page that had a sketch of a Dalek in it. If this was a book of dreams as the text lead her to believe, then even as John he dreamt of being The Doctor. There was The Doctor again and she remembered his words that John was just a disguise. She became angry at The Doctor, John, who ever the hell he was. His memory was now spoiled in many ways to her and Rose threw the journal against the wall. She then found herself discovering that, right now, she didn't want to remember John, but since the house was his it was hard not to.

Rose ran he hands through her hair and then noticed a thin piece of paper that had fallen out of the book. Finding it a little troublesome now with her baby bump, she bent down and picked up the paper. It was a hand drawn sketch of herself and it was lovely. The picture must have been obviously drawn from memory since she never saw John draw. This she saw as a sweet token of love that he had bothered to try to memorize her face enough to draw from memory. It all seemed so perfect and now she wondered if that was all John was, a perfect fabricated man designed to thrive and survive in hiding, all the while succeeding at anything he did. Rose wondered if she had been in love with a dream all along. No man had ever treated her like John had before and now on reflection she should have seen it for what it was. Too good to be true! She should have known that men like John didn’t exist, let alone go for chavs like her, and she felt so naïve for falling for John Smith. 

She was hitting a low and everything in this house reminded her of John. Maybe she would sell the place and buy a smaller house. Or rent depending on how much income she could make. Ha, her imaginary husband had been a better provider for his family and he didn't even know he was going to be a father. Rose sniffled a bit but then scolded herself. Rose was done being the long suffering wife. The relationship she had had was inherently broken. It had been a relationship that, although John did not know it at the time, was based on lies.

Mickey had been right all along, despite that, she was not going back to him... Mickey was not her one. Her one hadn’t even really existed. And maybe she just didn't have one anymore. Who could compete with John’s memory even if it was all a lie? But Rose could spend days in her head and not get around what had happened to her. It was time to focus on survival. The baby would be here in just a few short months. Never was that thought so scary. She had nothing prepared for her baby's arrival and no supplies either. Everything that had been lovingly prepared for her baby was back on the TARDIS and she wasn't going back to get her stuff after that scene. 

Rose was wary and her mind needed rest. Somewhat reluctantly she drifted off to sleep sending thoughts of love and reassurance to her telepathic baby, as best he could, as she slipped under the covers on autopilot. As Rose’s lethargic head drifted off into slumber, for a moment her half conscious mind might have registered hearing the TARDIS dematerialize, but she was just too tired to react even if she did.

The next day Rose woke up with a gross taste in her mouth wishing that she had brushed her teeth the night before. She had to wonder if she still had a toothbrush, probably a now dusty tooth brush, sitting in the bathroom next to John’s probably dusty one. She then felt her stomach turn and she was racing off to the familiar bathroom to take care of her morning sickness. A few unpleasant heaves and she was wishing very much for the miracle medicine that the TARDIS gave her every morning. The blond thought better of it and decided that she better get use to the medicine of her own planet and century again. The water had not been turned off, which Rose was thrilled with as it would have been hard to deal with the morning sickness otherwise. 

After that business was done with Rose showered and dressed herself in clothing from her old wardrobe that now felt like it didn’t suit her anymore. It was also obviously the clothing that her mother had left behind was not as fashion forward as her old wardrobe. She left all of her things on the TARDIS and all she had now were her pre-Time Lord possessions. Which was fine, she thought as she pulled on an old hoodie and jeans from her drawers that still fit her. Rose made her way down the stairs and could not help but look to see if the TARDIS was still in the front of the house where it was last night. It wasn’t and at first Rose felt herself panic, but then scolded herself. That life was over, she was on her own now and clearly so was The Doctor. Maybe when she had processed this all a bit more than she might have the maturity to wish him well. He'd never truly know what he was missing out on and that was sad.

Rose walk down the stairs to the kitchen catching glances of framed pictures of herself and John hanging on the wall. She found herself still smiling at a few of them despite her thoughts in her bedroom the previous night. She wasn’t as emotional and raw as she was last night and with a clearer head she could face the environment she had returned to better. Even if it was all a lie, they still stood alone as pleasant memories she guessed. And she could be worse off. At least she had a kettle in the kitchen. 

Rose felt like a ghost walking about the house or maybe the house felt like the ghost. She wished that it was all a dream. And when she woke up she'd find John downstairs making her breakfast, while being excited about becoming a daddy, but she knew that he would not be there. The house was empty except for her and the pictures on the wall of simpler times. She probably would have to end up selling the house. So maybe she’d bring the pictures with her and keep them in a box just like her mother did for her father’s things. Then at least when her child got older, Rose could show her daughter images of the man she at least had hoped she would have raised her child with. It wasn’t ideal but it was something a drop saner than, your Daddy was an alien time traveler in disguise who I then traveled in space and time with for a while in a big blue box. Imagine how that would have sounded at a parent teacher conference. No, she would just have to tell her, at first, that her father was a lovely man that died before she was born. 

Maybe when she was older Rose would tell her girl the whole truth, like her midteens. Rose found it surreal to now be planning that far ahead as she entered the quiet and somewhat dusty kitchen. Rose knew that there would be no food in the kitchen…or at least she hoped not. There were no bad smells. That was a good sign. She let out a breath and opened the fridge to find it empty. Phew. A further inspection of the kitchen rendered several dry goods like flour, sugar and salt. Tea? Tea? There was no tea! Jackie probably pinched it all. Rose let out an exasperated sigh as her stomach rumbled, but then she found some decaf coffee in a tin in the back of a lower cabinet. BREAKFAST! She cheered to herself. Decaf was safe for pregnant women as she knew the TARDIS only gave her decaf these days. At least that would be something until she could get some supplies and tea she thought as she brewed the drink in the still working coffee maker. There was still electricity in the house, she didn’t know how since the bill probably had not been paid in over a year, but she was grateful for it. As Rose took her first sip the idea of supplies finally hit her. She didn’t have any Earth currency anymore. That would be a problem and she had no idea how much money was in John’s accounts anymore. That was when she remembered the dummy book. John kept a dummy book full of emergency money in an old worn looking Mark Twain book in the library. Maybe it was still there. With mug in hand Rose walked into the decidedly smaller, than the TARDIS, library and found the before mentioned book. She put her mug down on the coffee table and sat down with the book. She was a little scared to open it. The police might have found it when they came through here. While holding her breath, Rose opened the box and there were several 100 pound notes in it. She squealed in excitement that it had not been discovered and couldn’t help but say,

“Oh, thank you, John!” Even dead, the imaginary man was still looking out for her and his child. This would be enough to last her a little bit, but she would still need to find work. Babies were expensive, but Rose was feeling quite optimistic about her prospects with some money to at least start on. She decided she would set small goals for herself for now. First goal get food, second find a job and go on from there.

Rose was so focused on her task that she almost didn’t notice the blue shed in the back garden that was visible from the living room as she walked by. Except they didn’t have a blue shed. Looking back reveled a rather unusual sight. She saw in the garden in a corner next to the, yet to bloom, rose bushes sat the TARDIS! Not only that but around it was a short little white picket fence and a potted planter. This had to be a joke, The Doctor would never do that. It was like the TARDIS was set on making a longer stay. Rose groaned at it. She didn't know if she should be insulted by the stereotype of domestic or not. Why was he doing this? To tease her? 'Just go away and leave me be. You made your point earlier. You've done enough.' Rose thought as she stared at the box.

'Whatever'. She thought as she turned away from the box that obviously wasn't moving anytime soon. She had marketing to do and no driver’s license. She seemed to remember a shopping basket on wheels in the garage and sure enough there it was. It was a bit rusted and dirty from the elements but it would serve its purpose. She set out on her way with the emergency money. Rose gathered her jacket from the hall closet and now trying not to feel like she was sneaking out, because she wasn't, Rose quietly exited through the front door. She then made her way down the street to the market with her little cart seemingly unseen.  
  


Rose enjoyed the cool air of the morning as she pushed her cart down the street to the nearest grocery market. It was a small store but it usually carried all the essentials. Usually it had a few locals and students inside trying to get a jump on the day as the market was usually crowded at night. As she made her way down the aisles she gathered the basics, eggs, milk, bread, some veg and meat. She also grabbed enough bananas to last her a week as she often had cravings for them. She was trying to be thrifty in her spending but she couldn't help but pick up some frozen chips and some malt vinegar. There was no reason she couldn't have chips as a snack, it was comfort food and she needed a lot of it. However, as soon as she reached in and grabbed the bag she froze and it had nothing to do with the freezer that her hand was in. Chips reminded her of John and The Doctor. Rose then scolded herself for the thought and grabbed the chips. She wasn't going to let a man ruin her favorite snack food.

Rose made her way over to the checkout counter only to surprisingly run into a familiar face. It was her old store manager on campus, Heather. Rose half felt like hiding since she sort had left her job quite abruptly over a year ago. However, Rose thought better of it. Here was an opportunity to see if she could manage to get her old job back! Meekly she approached the woman as she pushed her cart along and after the third try, she was able to greet the woman. To Rose's relief the woman's eyes lit up with recognition and not irritation.

"Rose! How are you lovey? I thought you were dead, honestly!" smiled the older woman, happy to see Rose. Due to their location, Rose decided to make things brief. She apologized for leaving her job so abruptly but family circumstances had come up that she rather not talk about. Heather did not hold any ill will as Rose had only been working part-time then.

"Oh that was so long ago, don't feel bad about it. Family things happen." Said Heather to which Rose replied while putting her hand on her stomach,

"Yeah they do." Heather had always had tunnel vision and now that Rose pointed it out, how could she miss that Rose was pregnant.

"Oh great news, where is John? You know there was quite the um, scandal on campus about him. I wondered how you were doing." Heather said the last part quietly. Rose cringed. She had an idea from her mother's ranting, of what these scandals were about, but she would save that for later.

"John is dead, he died not long ago." Answered Rose looking at ground. Part of her felt like she was being untruthful, but it was the most honest answer she could give. Every last trace of her husband, mind and body seemed gone these days.

"Oh, how terrible! And that's his then?" Asked Heather with sorrow on her voice as she pointed to Rose's growing stomach. She was near tears at such sad news as a child losing its father before they could even know them. For a moment she then worried that how she asked her question might have implied things about Rose. She was relieved when through wordless communication Rose expressed that she understood what Heather meant.

Despite talks about John's campus scandal, Heather could not see, from what she had observed that the man wouldn't make a good dad. He might not have had the schooling he claimed but the man was not a fraud in being a genius. That much no one had been able to deny. John even had dozens of supporters on campus from both lecturers and students who rejected the idea that getting a paper that said you were worth something for such an expensive price was the only way to learn. If you already had the teaching knowledge then why couldn't you teach? Many students even said that they had never had a better or more caring teacher than Professor John Smith. And that they would always be proud to say that they were his students.

"Yes. So understandably, I need a job again." Rose answered. Rose's situation fully dawned on Heather. Young mother to be, father is dead, and who knows what other troubles that Rose had to deal with now. Heather latched an affectionate arm over Rose's shoulder.

"Yes, of course you can have your old job back, my poor darling. I'll put you on the schedule. You are welcomed back whenever you like." Declared Heather and with that Rose's life effectively took off where it had left off before she had married John. Except this time she was a single mother to be. She wanted to go back to school again but that would have to wait until after her child was born. For now she needed to collect all the money she could.

\----------

'That turned out to be a very productive day,' thought Rose as she pushed along her cart with two large bags worth of food heading in the direction of home. The only thing left to do was visit the bank the next day. Rose's stomach growled. She was feeling very hungry now and couldn't wait to eat some of the food she bought. There had been nothing in the house obviously. So to her surprise she found waiting for her on the front stoop's box seat was a covered food tray. Confused she lifted it up and under it was a selection of healthy warm lunch foods, a small baggie of chips, and tea. She smiled, but then remembered herself. John used to leave a tray of food waiting for her from time to time in the kitchen when he had to leave early or before she got home. She knew who it was really from and it was a sweet gesture but she was not in a state to think about that sort of thing. For sanity's sake she had to continue living as she was for now.

She knew it was asking for trouble but the food was all there, hot and prepared. And she was eating for two and her feet were tired. Rose opened the door and placed the two shopping bags down inside and brought the tray in. Hungry pregnant Rose wanted to eat but first she had to put away her groceries.

Afterwards she sat down and began to eat her prepared lunch. Her stomach had been bothering her a bit but she found that after drinking the tea her stomach was settled. It was then that she noticed a note that had been under the teapot on the tray. She had thought it was a napkin, but when she picked it up she saw that written on it was:

'Something for your anytime sickness. It should settle your stomach. Enjoy the food, it's specially made to suit your current biochemical needs. I love you and the baby. If you need anything I will be outside.'

She didn't believe him. She did however notice that the house seemed significantly cleaner.

"So now he's breaking in." Stated Rose as she brought her plate to the sink to be washed. She wasn't worried that he'd physically harm her anyway. She just wanted to be left alone to sort herself out and actions like this from The Doctor where both confusing her and irritating her at the same time.

It had all come to a head with France. She had been naive and brushed aside the feeling she got off The doctor when he came back through the ‘magic door’ but when she finally met the woman, there was no denying something between them. She was the beautiful cultured uncrowned Queen of France and what was Rose, a barely educated, uncultured chav who was up the duff with his baby. Anyone would have been intimidated when you compared those credentials. She felt like a mess sitting next to that elegantly dressed woman.

At one point carrying his child, the last member of his species besides him, seemed like an assurance or safety net that he would always be there for her, even thought they were going through troubles. She felt that they would work it out. But then she was reminded that The Doctor, as Mickey had put it, was ‘just like any other bloke,’ and plenty of blokes loved em and left them. She knew two woman on the estate who’s men had up and left when they found out their girlfriend was pregnant and one who left right after his child was born. A child was no more an anchor to a man than a ring on the finger it seemed. This was just as Reinette had warned her.

Rose had been sure of the Doctor's love before, but behavior like she had seen recently from him had done anything but convince her of his sincerity or that he would stick around. Sure they had had sex, which was something that had taken forever for them to get back to being comfortable with, but sex alone did not make a stable relationship. Nor was it a reassurance of love. The Doctor had made his intention clear with his actions and had implied it earlier after they had met up with Sarah Jane. Now that things were out of his control. Now that she was out of his control, was the only explanation she could contribute to his sudden interest in her again. And she had to believe that once he had her back under his control and influence that he would continue to take her for granted and neglect her. Any kind gesture was sure to have expectations and strings attached. No, it looked like she, for now, would just have to go on with her life with a neighbor that she was uncomfortable with.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes
> 
> The next chapter we will be seeing The Doctor's point of view. And soon we will get a closer look at the journal that I bet you all thought I forgot about waaaaaay back in the beginning of Complicated.


	24. I am stupid.  Look up the word, stupid in the dictionary and there will be a picture of me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose are both working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapter, hope you enjoy.

Complications

By the Plot Thinens

Chapter 24 – I am stupid. Look up the word, stupid in the dictionary and there will be a picture of me.

There was no doubting the fact that he was dangerous. Was he even actually Time Tot safe to be around? Pondered The Doctor once he had put the TARDIS into the vortex. He might be a Time Lord but Rose was human and the child was not a full Time Lord. They had single hearts and would age and die rather quickly. Yes, die. He would have to watch them die and then be alone forever again. He had been pondering abandoning Rose for just that reason. Yes, he would own up to that too. In his cowardice he was letting ‘leaving Rose’ be an option. He was so selfish and cowardly that he had no idea what Rose had seen in him that was worth putting up with him up to this point. Well whatever it was, now Rose clearly didn’t think it was worth it anymore. He was an idiot, stupid, a fool, a moron, there weren’t enough synonyms in the dictionary to describe him for his treatment of Rose.

“Look up the word, ‘stupid’ in the dictionary and there will be a picture of me. And the captions will read, ‘worse selfish and ungrateful being to hitch your wagon to ever’.” The Doctor shouted to the ceiling as he continued to beat himself up.

If he had even considered leaving her then maybe he wasn’t the right choice for Rose and Mickey should have been the one to be with her after all. She probably would have ended up with Mickey if his stupid human self, John, had not glided into the picture. That was what led him to bring Mickey along. He was hoping by being distant to Rose she would reattach herself to Mickey and leave on her own. That way he wouldn’t have any guilt from having to dump Rose himself. But the arrogance of that assumption, humans were not cats or pets that you could throw on someone else. They were people and he should have discussed his concerns with Rose in a mature manner that their relationship deserved. He shouldn’t have resorted to childish teenaged trickery. Rassilon, he was a selfish lover, the worst boyfriend and husband in the world. Fatherhood and marriage had tested him and just because the people in question were short lived beings he had seemingly failed and proven unworthy.

The Doctor had no choice but to take a good look at himself and stop standing in the middle of the road of decision. ‘What do you want, Doctor? Any tragic circumstances aside, what do you want?’ asked a voice in his head. There was no hiding from his own big head and finally he answered that piercing voice. 

“I want to spend as much time as possible with Rose and our child. I love them.” He answered to no one out loud in the console room. The TARDIS hummed its approval at that statement.

“But it’s not about me anymore, is it?” The Doctor asked the TARDIS realizing again that he, in fact, did have someone to talk to besides his himself.

“It’s about what Rose wants. And what she wants I want. So I just have to show her that I love her and maybe just maybe she’ll want me in her life again.” Spoke The Doctor again to his time ship that blinked in agreement. The TARDIS then hummed as if to encourage, ‘Show her how much you love her.’

How much did he love Rose? Oh Rassilon, he loved her so much he had not known what to do? Was the short lived happiness with Rose of 60 or 70 years, worth thousands more years of loneliness without her? That was the question. He also would have to watch the next generation of his species die all over again like he had in the Time War. Was it worth it? And now, against the reason of a survivalist, everything in his Time Lord being was telling him, yes. The answer was ‘yes, they were.’ They were worth any hardship. Either way the result was the same, he would end up being lonely, so didn’t it make sense to get as much out of the time he had with his family in the meantime? He was stupid not to see that logic. At the very least he would hold off being lonely for about 100 years if the universe favored his family. 

The Doctor smiled at the possibilities of adventures that they could still have together. His eyes then fell on the TARDIS’ closed doors. He then remembered the door of the house they once shared together slamming in his face. It was not a pleasant memory. If they were starting at all they’d be starting from scratch. Okay, if that was what it was going to take. He would start from scratch. He was an all impressive Time Lord for Rassilon’s sake, he could do anything, right? If anyone could earn back Rose’s trust, it was him right? Well right now he didn’t feel all impressive or very Time Lordish actually. He felt lower than low. He’d say he was dirt, but that would insult dirt. Well he had to try anyway. He didn’t deserve Rose, but he didn’t deserve a lot of things. Happiness was one of them, but Rose deserved happiness and he was going to prove that he could make her happier than any other being in the universe! If he could play his cards right who knew she might even allow him to be there when the baby was born. That would be very generous of her though at this point. Still her love was worth fighting for. He then remembered Jack’s last words said to Rose. ‘You are worth fighting for.’ The Captain was right, Rose was worth fighting for and he would fight to win back her trust and love. He would fight for her. And then maybe with some effort he could recover some of the relationship he had with Rose back. Who knew, if he tried really hard then Rose might even let him be part of the baby’s life. 

It was all about Rose and the baby and if Rose thought being in that house on Earth was what was best for her and the baby, then that was what was best. He would prove that he would not leave her again and always be there for her. He was even willing to put down roots for Rose, if she wanted, he thought as he set the coordinates for the TARDIS’ landing. He traveled around the console with care and with a much gentler landing than normal he landed the TARDIS softly. He let out a laugh at the success of his landing right where and when he wanted. He opened the doors of the TARDIS and saw that he was, just as the monitor showed, in the garden of the Smith house. Right next to the rose bushes too, he smiled. He was also glad that he didn’t land on them. Rose did after all like the pink and yellow roses that John had planted. Landing on them would not have earned him brownie points. It was dark now but it had been close to twilight when they had first landed so The Doctor was not concerned. Besides to be honest the coward in him liked having the cover of dark to move in under. The Doctor looked at the house without a light on. Rose was most likely asleep and would she be in for a surprise in the morning. He smiled at his statement that he wasn’t going anywhere, but then he realized that the nature of the TARDIS was that of uncertainty. It could leave at any point and was about as fixed to one spot as any mobile home. How could he make the TARDIS’ parking spot look more permanent? He pulled at his messy brown hair and walked back into the TARDIS only to trip over something. The Doctor fell right on his face into the grating of the ramp up to the console. He then swore and rubbed his now red nose and looked up at the time rotor.

“Still cross with me, I see. I deserve it, so I won’t complain.” Grumbled The Doctor in a wounded voice as he looked at what he had tripped over. It was a potted planter and some wooden planks. No, not planks, they were lines of short wooden fencing. And they were white.

“White picket fence? Really?” Asked The Doctor with a sigh, but then he smiled. Genius! Corny, but it would send a clear message. And before he could think of it, the mallet that was normally hanging off the TARDIS console lightly whacked The Doctor in the back.

“Oi, careful that was close to my head. Mind you we’ve seen what head injuries can do!” Snipped The Doctor as he picked up the mallet and bits of fencing. The TARDIS just hummed noncommittally. The Doctor then quietly got to work making the TARDIS the best visual example of human domesticity that he could. The Doctor wasn’t going anywhere without Rose. 

Rose couldn’t help herself. She had done her best to occupy herself, but with the house being virtually spotless. The only room that had been left alone by The Doctor was the master bedroom and she had already gotten that in order. She guessed that maybe The Doctor had thought that was too personal a move to enter the former bedroom of John and Rose Smith. Or maybe some other reason, who knew what Time Lords thought. There was nothing much to do now but sit and watch telly or read a book. She had done the first bit for most of the day, as the cable miraculously was still running in the house. But now she had caught up on anything that she had wanted to watch and all that was left was to read. She’d eaten her dinner and was finding herself growing tired from her exertions that day. She had gotten a call from Heather, such good luck to run into her while the woman was out grocery shopping, to tell her that she could be on the schedule for the morning shift if she wanted in two days. It was getting nearer to exam times and there was always additional work that needed to be done to keep the store in shape during midterms. Rose had happily agreed, since she still needed to do some banking the next day. That being said, an early bedtime while falling asleep reading, was sounding like the perfect idea. Now what did she want to read?

Rose had perused the small library shelve in the master bedroom only to discover that nothing was especially singing to her. Dickens maybe, but then her eyes fell on the now much more beat up looking blue journal of the late Doctor John Smith. She put it back on the shelf only to pull it out again. She couldn’t help it, curiosity won out on her desire to get further information into how her imaginary husband had thought. So here she was reading his private ‘journal of impossible things’ while in the bed that used to be theirs but was now hers. She had nothing better to do at the moment anyway, so why not? It was just a little light reading to drift her off to sleep. 

Reading the journal was actually proving to be quite interesting and insightful about John and The Doctor. In it were John’s supposed dreams which she now saw were simply forgotten memories of The Doctor’s bleeding through into John’s human brain. Perhaps the two were closer to being the same person than she thought, but that idea was dashed by the reminder that John was just a made up person anyway. The real person had been The Doctor and her John the fairy tale. She absorbed information on The Doctor’s many faces, as there were illustrations of those provided among the pages. Drawings and information of people that The Doctor had met were present too. Most interestingly was information that he had never told Rose about before, his Time Lord family, now lost to war she assumed. She had seen how hurt The Doctor was by their loss and she had never got up the courage to press him on the issue. She had been content to take information as he gave it to her, but now she saw that there were many more things left unsaid then she could have imagined. She didn’t know why she was so surprised, he had lived for 900 years plus, there would be plenty that she wouldn’t know.

Looking over the pages, Rose could see that many people had been near and dear to him but one person stood out as particularly very near and dear to him, his granddaughter. Yet another shocker and again she didn’t know why that was such a shock to her. He was old enough to easily be a great great great great granddad. He just didn’t look it. Rose had probably learned more from the journal about The Doctor than over a year of being by his side. Again it was clear how little information he trusted her with or in the very least had felt comfortable with sharing. Like crisps she went through the pages and she absorbed names, places, faces, and images of monsters until she fell asleep.

Rose’s trip to the bank had been interesting enough. She wanted to check her and John’s joint account, but there had been problems. She had managed to find information and numbers in relation to the account at the house, which was the easy part. What made things difficult was Rose did not have any ID on her, because well, it was all in the TARDIS and she wasn’t about to knock on the TARDIS door to ask for her stuff back. Instead she had to make up a story about her purse being stolen and hence all her forms of ID. It had been a lengthy process but eventually it ended in her getting a new debit card. As far as funds went they were not too dismal, but it wasn’t quite enough to live on for very long. That being settled on Rose was ready to enter the work force again. Then on the allotted day, Rose returned to her previous job in the campus bookstore.

The work was fortunately easy on Rose’s back, but she did on occasion have to pick up the odd thing here and there and that usually led to comical antics at her expense. Other than that the only issue was that the job was a bit dull. It obviously didn’t compare in means to pass time like the TARDIS did. However, Rose scolded herself for being spoiled. She would just have to get use to the slow path. One more irritation was on some mornings she kept expecting John to walk through the front doors of the store and say ‘hello’. Rose would tell herself that that time was a nice fantasy to reflect on but she needed to get back to reality and do her work. Her own boredom was not as important as being a good mother and saving up money to care for her child. She would need to take some time off once the baby was born, so she better have a good sum to live on for that time.

The day finally ended and Rose was exhausted. They had done inventory but thankfully no one had made her lift anything, which she was not opposed to. She guessed that she was all built up for running and not for standing still all day. Of course she had been spoiled and had not had to hold down an actual job for over a year. Earning money was a lot harder without a sonic screwdriver.

“My feet are killing me.” Grumbled Rose to herself as she made the trek home ending yet another decidedly normal day at work. After all the running she done in the last year, who would have thought that just standing still would be so tiring. Rose clambered into the house and pretty much on autopilot ate a quick meal and passed out on her bed as soon as her head touched the pillow.

The Doctor had to act quickly. He had a precious tiny window to try to get his foot in the door on the way to redemption while she was on her own in that house. Because once Rose brought Jackie into the equation; he’d never get near Rose again when Jackie had all the details of what an arse he’d been. Just the idea of Jackie Tyler’s rage had The Doctor rubbing his cheek feeling the ghost of her slap, even one regeneration later. But it had been over a week and she still had not called on Mickey or her mother yet… That had to mean something, yeah? Or maybe she was communicating but omitting information. Either she wanted complete isolation or she might just still love him enough to keep the people she loved from stringing him up by his ears. And they weren’t as big anymore, so best avoid that. Or maybe she didn’t even think he was worth getting upset over anymore. Maybe she really had moved on. She had asked for a divorce. The silent treatment might be just that, complete divorce of their lives from each other. 

Rose wasn’t the only one that he was getting the silent treatment from. Feeling ever the unworthy father, he had attempted this week and every day to reconnect and strengthen the link he had all but severed with his unborn daughter. This had been not as productive as he would have liked, for it seemed that his daughter was siding with her mother for the moment. No doubt she had begun to get accustomed to the only voice in her head being her mother’s and he would have to ‘romance’ his daughter’s mind to accept that having him in her head and vice versa was still a good thing. After having gone through a feeling of such abandonment, he understood her standoffishness. He deserved it and for the mean time would have to settle with continuing to offer, at her ‘mind’s door’, feelings of love, protection, and remorseful at having cut their connection so much. Like knocking quietly at a door or slipping notes underneath it, his mind lingered outside his daughter's, longing to be let back into the warmth and light within. Maybe both females in his life would never come to accept him again after all the crimes he had committed against them. Maybe he was beyond forgiveness.

“No I have to be positive, not negative. No nega negitty tivity!” Scolded The Doctor to himself as he tugged his brown hair, which wasn’t looking that magnificent lately. He didn’t need a bath like humans did, but he was looking a bit scruffy these days. He had not shaved either. Every day she left the house in the morning and did not come back until the evening. He was at first giving her the space she obviously wanted and had reluctantly stayed in the TARDIS, but as a week had passed and she had made no hint at wanting to open communication again, he was growing ever tempted to start following her around. 

He looked at his reflection in a shiny surface on the console and not liking the mess he saw, he went to his bathroom and cleaned up until he was looking like his usual self. He ran his hand over his face and asked himself what to do. He needed a plan, that was what he needed. He had to get back into Rose's life again and earn her forgiveness. What did humans do in this case? Well there was always the direct approach. Beg. Not that begging was an inherently human thing to do, all creatures could beg. The Doctor corrected himself quickly as if the mere thought of putting down humans again would jinx any remaining chance with Rose. He just needed the right situation to beg over. In the meantime while he ruminated over how best to beg for forgiveness, he decided that the garden was looking a bit shabby outside the TARDIS from the monitor. No sooner had The Doctor thought this he walked forward only to trip over an old fashioned push powered lawnmower.

“Again, I deserve that.” The Doctor grumbled making no effort at a verbal protest as he picked himself off the grated floor and proceeded to drag the mower out the TARDIS doors with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just do the work, Doctor. Comments and kudos welcomed!  
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	25. Memory Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some time spent in the heads and dreams of our protagonists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter full of fluff and Angst, because I love you.

Complications

By the Plot-Thinens

Chapter 25 – **Memory Lane**

Rose woke up, threw up and rinsed out her mouth. Leaving the bathroom she looked outside the window to find that the TARDIS was still there and she groaned. How long was he going to camp out there? Why she groaned she didn't know but her best guess was it was better than crying at the moment. Having a constant reminder of some complicated emotions when you looked out the window each day was draining to say the least. She wondered a lot of things about The Doctor when she looked at the TARDIS. She supposed that The Doctor sticking around this long would speak volumes of his intention to have Rose back, but she suspected The Doctor would say and do anything to get his way. And if all he wanted Rose for was just to have around and not to love, then she didn’t want any part of him. She knew how lonely The Doctor was and maybe all he wanted was his favorite companion back…Or rather second since he had clearly preferred Reinette’s company to her own. Some part of her said that was a petty remark, but she repeated that it was not a petty matter when your own husband up and leaves you regardless of the circumstances for another woman. Atop that he had the possibility of no way back to her. Husband, was that really what he had been all along? To anyone else they’d say her husband was obviously dead. This would be all so simple if The Doctor had not made her fall in love with him. She felt pings of guilt suddenly for falling for another man almost immediately after her husband died. But again she reminded herself that such emotions were silly as John was just a disguise of The Doctor’s. 

This never ending loop of emotional upheaval was driving Rose spare and she just wanted five minutes in the morning without The Doctor or the TARDIS on her mind. Rose let down the blinds on the windows facing the garden and got herself dressed. Rose was starting up her life a new again. Her decidedly more human life with her baby that she and John had unknowingly made, but now thanks to fate had some Time Lord traits too. She would deal with that as it came. She had to get up for work. Rose flipped back on the light switch to the bathroom which still worked even though she had not seen one bill in her mailbox. To say that she was suspicious that The Doctor had something to do with the utilities was a lie. She knew he had something to do with it. Well, if he wanted to help with the bills that was fine, but with The Doctor’s tendency to ahem, ‘borrow’ things whenever he needed it she didn’t want any surprise visits from companies wondering why she was getting free services. Still, if that was his way of paying support for his child then she wasn’t going to complain about it, unless the bill collectors showed up. Though she would have been sure that from how he was hanging around he would have wanted to be more upfront with his contributions to the household economy.

Gardening seemed to be a new thing to add to The Doctor’s apparent behind the scenes contributions. Last night the garden had been a bit of a wild mess, but now it was neatly manicured and even had an inviting table and chairs on the back porch. No doubt that was a subtle encouragement for her to come out and enjoy The Doctor’s outdoor labors. It was inviting though, she be very tempted to have a sit if she wasn’t still trying to avoid him for now. Interaction would be inevitable when the baby came since he seemed to make his intentions clear of sticking around. Of that she was sure of. It was his motivation and intention that she questioned.

Rose made her way down to the kitchen holding tightly onto the banister. She had almost stumbled down the stairs two mornings ago and she was not taking any more chances with her baby’s safety at stake. It half felt like pretend with the TARDIS parked out there in the yard. It was the photos of times gone by all around the house of her and the man that she had fallen in love with that made her widowhood very real to her. That man was gone and so was the body that looked like the man she loved. Why couldn’t she call herself a widow? Everyone else would assume it soon enough, the bank already did. A difficult enough task but it still seemed to go her way even without having all the paper work handy.

  
  


‘Yet another day’, thought Rose as she signed in at the campus bookstore for her shift. The morning was uneventful. After a morning at the electronics’ register in the back of the store, she was now folding shirts in the school store apparel section. She made her way through various tees with either the dull logo of the university on the front or those with funny college related humor printed on them. There were even a few adorable ones for your pet. Rose pushed her trolley carrying the merchandise to the end of the aisle and found herself stopped in front of the baby section. The section was a bit messy and Heather’s catchphrase, ‘Clean as you go’ went off in her head. Rose sorted through baby tees with things written on them like ‘future PHD at…’, ‘My parent is an alumni at...', and ‘Daddy (or Mummy) works for me, teaching is their second job’. Rose actually found herself getting a little misty eyed from the tiny cheeky shirts. She couldn’t help but wonder if John would have liked their daughter to wear one of these for a laugh. He was certainly proud of his position at the university, but then Rose scolded herself again for dipping back into fantasy. 

‘John was not real. John was not real. Stop torturing yourself, Rose.’ Rose hissed to herself. The only problem with that was the emotions she had felt for him and the ones she got in return from him were very real to Rose. It was too lonely and depressing to linger on such emotions. Rose was never the religious type. It wasn’t like she’d be seeing her imaginary husband in the hereafter anyway, so it was better not to set herself up for disappointment her whole life chasing after the ghostly memory of a man that never existed. It was like falling in love with a book character, which was of course ridiculous. All logic dictated her to move on in her life. The tricky thing was it had felt very real at the time. Despite herself she couldn’t see the ‘John’ character wanting her to stay sad forever at his loss either. She had much more living to do, things to see and wonders to show her daughter. Sure not as amazing as things that could be seen in the TARDIS, but Earth still had its charms. She was at least determined that Mummy and daughter would go on a few trips, maybe to the mainland when she was older. Until the Doctor had come along, Rose had not even been outside the country and Rose wanted a more eclectic understanding of the world for her daughter than she had growing up.

The Doctor had finally given in and followed Rose to work. He had not dared to venture into the store though. Much like a ghost, unseen and unrecognized by his former university denizens, he haunted Rose’s periphery as she walked inside the store. The Doctor found some tables just outside the shop across the small walkway and proceeded to camp out there and watched for any chance to see Rose’s face. Much to his disappointment, Rose did not seem to be working her ‘usual’ register. She had yet to see him and he had yet to see her since she walked through the store front. He might have remained unnoticed by Rose, but Heather did find the strikingly dressed man outside her store very noteworthy. He didn’t seem to have moved for hours, but just stared in her direction. Slowly The Doctor’s presence became a bit more discussed by the younger staff members wondering who was the handsome looking man either staring at them or staring off into space in their direction. One of the staff woman even jokingly swore she had seen him on the cover of one of her love novels before. Another grinned in kind that he certainly looked like he could be pining after someone and wished it was him.

The Doctor was making use of his time sitting around outside. He was in a close enough proximity to try communicating with his daughter again as well as watch out for Rose. He wanted to make sure that they both were safe. Now a college campus at daytime didn’t seem too dangerous, but with Rose’s ability to find trouble, for example him, it didn’t hurt to keep an eye out for anything that might threaten his family. All day The Doctor watched for Rose, and told Gallifreyan children’s tales to his daughter outside her mind’s door. He hoped that she was hearing it, but if not the words, he was sure that his positive 'vibes' could be felt by the baby. Towards midday he noticed that some people in the window of the store were pointing subtly at him and by reading their lips he was sure that they were talking about him. Thinking it best to keep a low profile The Doctor went for a walk around the building, scanning with his sonic for anything unusual. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself, so he went back to sit in his table outside the store. Only when he drew closer did he realize that Rose was also walking to the same table with a bagged lunch. It was an awkward meeting at best. The Doctor looked away ashamed that he had been caught and ashamed to look her in the eye in general. Rose was taken off guard but then quickly recovered and asked The Doctor, 

“Is this it then? You’ve been reduced to stalking me?” The Doctor flinched at the word stalking, was that really what he was doing? The Doctor then sputtered out,

“I wasn’t... I mean, I didn’t… I wasn’t going to bother you. I just wanted to be nearby. I swear I wasn’t even going to talk to you if you didn’t come over to me. I just wanted to make sure you and the baby were safe.” Rose said nothing and just continued to look at him, he clearly wanted her to say something, but she had nothing to say. 

“I mean not that I suspect too much trouble around here. Two alien invasions er um... Guess there was already two if you count me. But three alien invasions, well, that would be pushing it into the realm of ridiculously high alien traffic coming through this campus. But jeopardy friendly…Uh anyway it’s such a nice campus too, who wouldn’t want to visit it? I have a lot of nice memories here. Probably some of my happiest memories in quite a while.” Rose flinched at that statement. The thought of John’s memories in The Doctor’s head was upsetting her. She wasn’t looking to reminisce right now. The Doctor looked to Rose with hope in his eyes that he knew he did not deserve to have.

“I’m not ready for this conversation, Doctor. Please just go.” Rose finally uttered, asking him to be on his way. She couldn’t avoid him forever and they would have to have this talk eventually, but today and all of a sudden was not the terms she wanted. And if the terms were not to her liking then she didn’t have to accept them. Whether a finalized divorce or anything else was in their future it would not be decided today. There was also the matter of how much The Doctor wanted involvement in the baby’s life since he professed to love her so much. Though not enough to accept the baby’s short lifespan as it was, that had been one of the issues here that had led to the state of their relationship. The other had been his abandonment of the two of them without a second thought. 

Realistically Rose knew that she probably wouldn’t be able to give birth in a regular hospital, the baby might raise eyebrows in many ways. She probably would need The Doctor’s help for that at least. She was not going to admit it now for the moment though. The Doctor would have to work for that privilege. And prove that controlling her was the last thing he wanted in his hearts. 

“Can I come again tomorrow?” Implored The Doctor. Much to The Doctor’s dismay he did not receive a definitive answer, Rose merely replied,

“It is a public campus. Unless you do something illegal, no one can stop you from coming or going.” Rose then walked off with her lunch in the direction he assumed of the water fountain on campus. The Doctor dropped his shoulders, today he would have to admit defeat. He had not been able to convince Rose of his sincerity and humility. Though considering that he had not even planned to approach her that day, things could have gone far worse. She didn’t tell him to leave and never come back. That meant he might still actually have a chance of working this out.

And on another very positive note, The Doctor was making progress with his daughter. He’d been singing songs at the mental door that was his daughter’s mind and he might have detected a slight hint of a hum back to his tune. Was she listening to him? It wasn’t much but it was promising. Maybe soon they would exchange mental words and perhaps later a sentence! 

The Doctor decided that he might as well head back to the TARDIS. In his never ending pursuit to be useful around the house, ‘discretely’ as possible, he needed to have some paper work checked out by the TARDIS. He had a feeling that when his younger self had told Rose that the house was all paid up for, that the TARDIS might have been a bit more thorough than he originally thought when she set up John Smith’s life. The Doctor had been challenging himself to provide everything for Rose that he could without her knowing it. This is why naturally utilities had come to mind. He didn’t want Rose to have to worry about something as domestic as bills when there were so many other domestic things to worry about already. 

Sure enough the TARDIS produced the documentation that he was looking for. The TARDIS had, in her haste to set up a life for him on Earth, arranged a house with the mortgage already paid off and utilities paid in full for an estimated 300 years! 

“That’s a bit long, don’t you think? You let time slip a bit more often than you care to admit.” Remarked The Doctor on the TARDIS’ obvious screw up. The Doctor patted the console and the TARDIS gave him a particularly annoying shock in response to his accusation. The Doctor let out a whine at the pain and The Time Lord was forced to drop the subject.

“Or maybe you just saw it coming. You saw that I was going to mess up things with Rose and you liked her so much, that you wanted to make sure she was taken care of after I cocked things up.” Muttered The Doctor in a mournful voice. It did not make him feel any better that the TARDIS seemed to do a better job caring for his family than he did. The TARDIS gave The Doctor a reassuring hum that seemed to hint that it was okay for him to take the credit. She then observed The Doctor mope about the console room looking for inspiration on the subject of assisting Rose, his wife.

  
  


“Well for the moment anyway, until she chucks the ring…No she should pawn it. It might as well be of some use to her… Unlike me, the Great and Powerful Time Lord Commitment phobic!” Shouted the Doctor to himself in a taunting manner that echo throughout the console room. The echo just putting emphasis on how alone he now was inside the ship again.

“What use have I ever been to her? Showed her stars, planets, universes, and times gone by. The bloody end of her planet, oh gods… that was a terrible first date idea. Simply terrible. Probably should seek some therapy for that one. How does that compare to holding her when she needs holding? John did that and he was just a human." He pouted before continuing,

"But seriously all I’ve ever done is provide her with a few cheap thrills between periods of making her feel like sh@t! The only good thing I ever did for Rose was inadvertently, and quite by accident, provide her with John Smith for less than a year. He’s the only one who ever did anything good for her. Hard to believe that I’m technically him." The then Doctor collapsed onto the jump-seat and dug his palms against his closed eyes before mourning,

"All his thoughts, memories, feelings, they’re all mine too, you know. I could just chuck them in the back of my head and forget about them, but I can’t I lived as him and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I wanted to still be him for Rose. He is part of me. He might have started out as a disguise, but we integrated, he’s me and I’m him. He’s still in here and even when Rose fell for me a second time in such an altered form, I treated such an unlikely occurrence like it was worthless because I was afraid. My Time Lord self is the part getting in the way." The Doctor then let out a puff of air from his aching lungs,

"Probably could be 1/3 of the husband he was if I didn’t have all this Time Lord angst floating about in my daft and not ginger head blocking the path to any sensible thinking.” Yelled the Doctor at himself. 

The TARDIS did not like it when her Time Lord was upset, but she still didn’t feel that he had completely learned his lesson just yet. Which was why he tripped over yet another obstacle, a half opened cardboard box. The Doctor just laid there against the grating staring into nothing and motionless on the floor. He had sent armies running at the mere rumor of him being near and here he was, the Oncoming Storm, laying on the floor like lump on a candonwood log. He wondered how much longer the TARDIS would keep doing this, but The Doctor had given up protesting at this point and just looked over the contents. There was a bottle of morning sickness medicine that Rose had been used to taking while on the TARDIS, vitamins specially formulated for Rose’s needs, and a body pillow. The Doctor cracked a smile and praised the TARDIS, 

“Brilliant, I’ve been worried if she was getting the right nutrients for herself and the baby. And the pillow is for comfort in sleeping like I’d been reading about. The further along humans get in a pregnancy the more uncomfortable and difficult sleep is. This will help.” The Doctor slapped himself verbally in the face by adding, 

“Of course if I were there she could lean on me instead. If I wasn’t such an arse…” The Doctor then had another thought. He had noticed that Rose seemed to be developing a slight limp in her right leg. Quite obvious to a Time Lord, but might go unnoticed by a human observer. Obviously their child’s growth was having a negative impact on Rose’s ability to walk and hence run too. He had a solution for that. The Doctor ran to the wardrobe and acquired a pair of Rose sized blue chucks and proceeded to start sonicing them.

“This should provide some cushioning as well as a slight antigravity element to her feet. Rather than feeling like she is exerting hundreds of pounds of pressure on her feet a day, it should feel more like ten pounds of pressure a step. Also I can tweak it to help out with any previous pain. And they are slip on shoes; Rose shouldn’t have to bother with laces. Oh, I am brilliant.” Smirked The Doctor at his own cleverness. The TARDIS just hummed unimpressed and tripped him again.

“Keep in mind that not all the thoughtfulness has to come from you when Rose is concerned.” The Doctor chuffed as he sprinted back to the console room with the shoes. The Doctor then began taping up the box and joyfully carried it out of the TARDIS to leave at the front door. Rose would be getting home soon so he had to hurry, because as much as it pained him, he knew she didn’t like to see him near the house. She tolerated the TARDIS. He knew that because if he was outside she was nowhere to be found but if she only saw the TARDIS then he could at least through the console monitor, catch sight of her through the windows. Okay that was stalking-ish sounding, The Doctor grimaced and tried to not think about that. He then recalled that once Rose had even stood at the back door to view the garden and take in the afternoon air. A fact that he was very proud of as far as his gardening skills went.

Rose had walked back to the house, every once in a while complaining about her feet to herself. She once was so used to standing all day, but she had a feeling that being out of practice wasn’t the only variable when one was expecting. 

“You best get accustomed to it Rose, it’s only gonna get worse.” Rose reproached herself as she pulled out her keys and saw a large package leaning on her door. She had not ordered anything so it had to be from The Doctor. Rose sighed, opened the door and brought in the package with her.

“Guess it would be ‘rude’ to leave it out here. Besides it might be stuff for the baby.” Rose said aloud to herself as he brought the surprisingly light box up to the kitchen table. Using her key she opened the tape sealed package and peered inside. The first thing she saw was a large body pillow. That would definitely make sleeping a whole lot easier for her. Hugging it would take some pressure off her legs at night. She then saw the familiar medicine that the TARDIS had given her and she hated to admit it but she was grateful for that. She was growing tired of walking into work feeling nauseated. She even had to start detouring through the other side of campus just so she didn't have to walk past the back of cafeteria every morning. She couldn't stand the smell of anything wafting out of that building besides chips. Along with that were some vitamins that she and the baby would need to stay healthy, also surprisingly thoughtful for The Doctor and she wondered if the TARDIS had a helping hand to play in this. 

The last item she knew would have had to come from The Doctor. A pair of blue converse shoes. Unfortunately they did not look like they would provide too much support. She needed a whole lot lately since she had high arched feet. Still her old shoes were nearly shot and she decided it wouldn’t be any harm to try them on. She didn’t feel anything upsetting about taking a gift from The Doctor, he owed her a whole lot more for all the crap he had put her through in the past year. Rose sat down on the couch and took off her old shoes and carefully slipped on the new shoes, which to her delight the laces were just for decoration.

“Good don’t think I could reach around my stomach in a few weeks.” Sighed Rose as she then got up. 

“Oh.” Rose let out a surprised gasped that wasn’t a reaction to her passenger’s constant moving about. Her feet she realized had stopped hurting. She switched from foot to foot and then walked around. She almost felt like she was walking on air.

“Jiggery pokery chucks!” Rose giggled as she knew that The Doctor had done something to the shoes to take some much needed pressure off her feet. 

‘That was very thoughtful of him. Wonder if he has anything for my back…’ thought Rose, but her elation did not last as it was quickly mixed with a handful of upsetting emotions involving The Doctor.

“Ugh, Dinner, shower, bed.” Rose affirmed as she got started on her evening routine. Routine complete she placed the morning sickness medicine in the bathroom and got into bed. Rose looked over on her nightstand and there was John’s journal that she had been periodically looking through when she was feeling in need of company. Every day she was growing more tempted to tell her mother that she was back on Earth, but Rose did not need her mother swooping in and babying her right now. Rose decided that the ‘ghost’ of her husband would have to suffice in company for now and began reading the journal again.

The journal not only covered John’s dreams but his life as well. On occasion a note was made about school or a student that he admired the work of, but his journal so far seemed primarily a dream journal, that is until Rose came into the picture. Suddenly John was writing about Rose, not just sketches like the one she had first found. He wrote about how he had managed to save a coworker through sheer dumb luck and she had even bought him dinner as thanks. John scribed of how impressed he was with her ability to absorb information quickly and thought that someone as smart as her was wasted in a university shop. The man lamented that he wished he had a whole class of students as quick witted as Rose. Rose knew that John had considered her intelligent but the fact that he had come to this conclusion the night they sort of first met, well properly, was amazing. 

John’s notes on his dreams were much choppier at times and often made no sense out of context, like fleeting ideas that he had to get down before they were forgotten. But his ‘diary’ entries were much more down to Earth than the fanciful world of his dreams. So they were much easier to follow as they were written more like a letter to a friend:

‘Said ‘hello’ to Rose today. Such a pleasure to speak to her. The day just isn’t started without her smile.’ 

“You were sweet, John.” Remarked Rose as she smiled at the wonderful words she read. She flipped another page.

‘Rose didn’t seem to be working in the shop this morning. She must be off today. Pity, I had such a funny story to tell her too.’ Little comments like that he would write until his journal came to the time leading up to their courtship. Then suddenly information on her was filling its fair share of the journal. 

‘Got up bloody early this morning and it was worth it! Rose was at register again and I got her to laugh. Lovely sound, I wish I could hear it all day.’ As time passed the notes on her got more personal. 

‘Thank you, banana fruit basket. You always give me an excuse to see Rose.’ However it wasn’t always positive things that involved her. There were plenty of cases of John doubting himself and his chances with Rose and that broke Rose’s heart a bit. The personality, John, had always been worthy of her, she thought. It was the reality that was The Doctor that she was not so sure about anymore.

Then the notes got to that fateful day she asked him to come with her on an outing to a fruit market. Rose reflected fondly on the day that she had changed her life so much. After all it had led to a few precious months of bliss. Who could ever regret feeling so loved and cared for? It might have been a lie and ended in tragedy, but that didn’t mean that, at the time, the experience was unpleasant.

‘Today Rose and I went marketing. I was stunned when she asked me. Why would she want to hang out with an old fossil like me? I kept asking myself that all day but sure enough there she was waiting for me at the fountain!’ 

Rose found that his dream journal started looking more like an actual journal with some dreams mentioned on the side on some pages as his entries became longer and more elaborate on the subject of Rose.

‘This is supposed to be a dream journal but sometimes it comes off sounding more like some wet-behind-the-ears teenaged boy is writing it instead of an old man. I feel ashamed that I have this ‘interest’ in Rose. Makes me feel like I’m a creepy old man. She’s just trying to be nice to the man who rescued her. And look what I’m injecting into this friendship. How disturbing is that? She doesn’t owe me anything. I hope she doesn’t put up with me just because of that. But I just can’t stay away. Maybe soon she’ll have enough of me. I hope she tells me off soon before being parted from her becomes anymore painful. I could stay away if she asked me to. If it made her happy, I’d do it.’

“John, you were too sweet to be of this world. Turned out you were.” Mourned Rose. She saw that John really was just as nervous at screwing up as she was early on in their relationship. She had doubted an intelligent man like John would have much interest in a woman half his age and with such an inferior brain. He had doubted a woman like Rose could have feelings of love for him when his mind was in such an older and uglier exterior. All along he was a beautiful soul to her and she was a brilliant star to him. A star that if just given the opportunity to shine, would. 

Turning to a new page, Rose smirked at how excited John was on the night she had agreed to take him up on his offer of a warm bed over a cold bus bench. It was nice to know what he was thinking that night on such a personal level. They had talked before about their thoughts and dreams as a dating and later married couple, but this book was as close a window into his mind as she would get. 

‘Rose is in my house. I was avid I would not leave her alone on the street and well we argued over it and then without even knowing what happened, I offered her to stay the night here and she agreed! I was floored that the words came out of my mouth and even more floored that she accepted. To think that she trusts me that much. I’m honored. Well part of me is elated that she’s safe and sound in here and not on the street waiting for a ruddy bus to come. Another part of me is worried that I’m going to muck up somehow. But overall, thank God, she’s not still on that bench. Here’s where I sound like a teenager again. I sort of hinted that she should have her boyfriend pick her up, but all she said was she had a friend. How does a perfect woman like Rose Tyler not have dozens of suitors? I’m sure she was just being polite to my aged ears. You know, sometimes…I just wish that I was ten years younger, at least. Ugh, anyway dream journal, current events and then back to dreams I swear. I’m lending her a pair of my pajamas and my heart was racing a mile a minute just praying that she thought that they were acceptable and not insulting. Just the plainest sleepwear I could find in my old man wardrobe to dress her in. But she didn’t make any other comment than the obvious, that the legs and sleeves would need rolling up. So far so good. I’ll just be the best host that I can. Sleep well, Rose Tyler. You’ll always be safe in my company.’ 

Having read John’s most personal confessions, Rose pondered if John would have ever gotten up the courage to show her this book. She knew that John trusted her in many things but as he was ‘human’ he had to be imperfect. Just as she kept one or two embarrassing things from him, she had to expect him to do the same. The dreams alone were so wild that she could see that he might worry what she would think of his mental health over them. But really she felt she would have just been fascinated by what his mind could cook up. Rose might have even encouraged him to publish the book. John always was very guarded in details of his personal life. Rose supposed that had been part of his programming to keep people from knowing too much about him. If his information didn’t add up maybe those aliens would have found him sooner. ‘Who could tell?’ Rose sighed. After reading such heartfelt confessions, she didn’t like reminding herself right now that John Smith was just a complicated program. She found she was favoring just focusing on the pleasant memories under the circumstances. She read on.

‘Pleasant dreams last night. No fires or anything scary. Just dreamt about a funny tin dog and eating jelly babies. I ought to buys some. Feels like ages since I had a bag. Okay, that was a dream entry first, just to prove that this is still a dream journal and not a bloody diary. I made breakfast for Rose, but daft me woke up too early. So I did a bit of ironing and got carried away. I ironed Rose’s pink hoodie she left in the study. I thought I’d have it done before she woke up, but alas my perfect crime was foiled and Rose caught me in the act. I thought for sure she’d think it creepy, but she just seemed amused and liked that it was already warm on such a cool morning. We had a great breakfast and I offered her a ride to school, but she turned it down for a walk. I thought I finally overstepped my bounds but then she came back and kissed me on the cheek! I was all but speechless. She was so lovely walking away in the morning light. Of course my dumb brain goes to ideas of romance, but I put my head back on straight and saw it properly for the sweet friendly gesture it was. Still needed a cold shower afterwards though. I’m a dirty old man. I don’t know if I’ll be able to look Rose in the eye for a week.’

Rose scowled and said to the book,

“Oi, watch it Smith, that’s my man you are talking about.” Rose didn’t like John bad mouthing himself. Rose was so caught in the narrative that she didn’t even give herself time to remind herself that John was imaginary. John’s personality shined through his words and it was like a relaxing balm on her skin. 

‘Dreamt of these horrifying metal men last night. I woke up because I was so scared but went right back to sleep. I then had a dream about Rose, decidedly not as scary as the last dream. I can’t help but wonder if her dream lips on mine are anywhere close to the reality. I can’t seem to fight my subconscious. Rose means something to me more than just friendship. And as long as I never let on I think our relationship can still be what it is. I’m not risking the most meaningful friendship of my life over a lonely old man’s dream fantasies of a beautiful woman.’ Had she really beguiled him so much with just a sweet kiss on the cheek? Clearly Rose had not known her own power over him. She wished she had known because then asking John out wouldn’t have been as terrifying a task. Then as if following the narrative of her thoughts after a few more pages of dreams she saw the next diary entry.

‘Okay, now I will own up to it. This is a teen aged boy’s entry, no denying it this time. A teenager in an old man’s body. That’s what I felt like. But I have to tell someone and it sure as hell isn’t going to be Jack. Maybe eventually I’ll tell him, but not yet. I want this information to myself for a little while. 

Rose asked me out! She said she liked me and I like her! She came to my office dressed to kill and asked me out. She even waited until my office hours were over and spent the whole day with me! My students are going to gossip, but I don’t care. She wants to start dating me! What did I ever do to catch the eye of such a woman like Rose? I can’t believe Rose would think I would say ‘no’ to her. What insane man would turn down Rose’s advances? I’m the only one who should think them out of their depth. I’m the old man. But as I said, I’ll do anything for her and if I’m who she wants for the moment than I won’t ask questions. 

Anyway we went to the planetarium, my suggestion. Nerdy yes, but it is just such a nicer more open experience than a bloody movie. And you can have quiet conversation at a planetarium more than at a movie. Said she’d like to see the stars and I offered a future trip to go stargazing which she didn’t turn down the idea.

But that’s not the end of it. Not only did we have dinner that night too, she asked me to kiss her! I couldn’t believe my luck. Still I was nervous and said some stupid things and even more stupid, I tried playing it safe and kissed her on the forehead. I was soundly chastised and she told me to ‘try again’. So a proper kiss it was. She called me handsome and after that I had a song stuck in my head, but I’ll spare you that detail my poor dream journal. I don’t know what she sees in me, but I’m glad Rose sees something. Still can’t believe she dressed that nice for daft old me!’

“Oh, I seem to remember you being more pleasantly surprised when I dressed down for you on our wedding night, John.” Grinned Rose. She was touched at how much John thought of her and longed to be living in that time again. It was nice that she had this journal. Whenever she felt lonely in the future she could refer to it and remember that at one point she had been loved in the way she wanted to be even if it had been make believe. Other woman had to settle on men in books they would never meet and at least she had got to meet her fantasy man. More notes followed describing times Rose had remembered and details that she had forgotten. 

‘Rose has accepted my proposal! It wasn’t the romantic idea that I had fantasized, but I figured if she could accept the proposal the way I looked first thing in the morning then she had to be going into this knowing all. I know that we will be happy together. I will work the rest of my days to make her the happiest I can. I just hope…well we’ll talk about that later, I guess.’ The blond found the last part a bit cryptic. Usually John didn’t withhold information from his journal but she was sure that it would come up again when he was ready to write about it. More dream entries followed daily and a few hurried entries about dealings with her mother about the wedding arrangements. However, John had not made an entry in his journal for a few days after their wedding. Rose took that as a compliment since she had kept him quite busy over that long weekend. Well, John had kept her busy too. It was then John revealed a worry that he had not felt fair to press on his young wife. Children. Secretly John had longed for children with Rose. A longing that he felt he could not immediately convey to Rose because of his age difference. He felt as if maybe Rose should be the one to suggest it since he didn’t want Rose to feel pressured into it. 

‘I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, but I never had children. I can’t describe how seeing a mixture of Rose and myself would make me feel. But I’m an older man. I mean I think that I still can run around after children and deal with late night feedings, but not for many years longer. But what do I do? Rose is so young. She is not going to want to have children yet. We are at very different stages of our lives. And I don’t want her to feel any pressure to do it just because I’m nearly twice her age. She should have all the time in the world to chase after her dreams before I end up saddling her down with kids. I mean technically men can have children forever as long as they are able. And I am still able. Rose can attest to that, but I just worry about leaving her widowed with children. She is clever enough to make due but young ones are expensive and I don’t want her to be raising them alone because I checked out before they even got to college. I hate to leave any young child without their Dad but there doesn’t seem to be anything for it. Rose, rightly so, probably won’t want to have children until she is in her 30s. I’m sure she’ll find someone else after I kick the bucket. She’s so smart, witty, wonderful, and lovely. How could she not find someone else once I’m gone? But grandchildren are probably out of the question either way for me. Pity, I would have liked to have been called Grandfather. When I am the adventurer in my dreams, at one point I was called Grandfather by a young girl and it was not unpleasant. Anyway it’s all up to Rose. Whatever plan she wants to follow, I will follow it.’

Rose reflected on this revelation. John had wanted children. He had just been too scared to act. John was afraid of pressuring her into motherhood, understandable. She had wanted to complete her education first. Children and higher education were a tough balancing act, but not impossible. She would have rather waited. What a surprise that she’d end up pregnant anyway. If things had continued to go on as they had she imagined that John would be thrilled but worried that his new wife might feel tied down or trapped too much as a young mother. She’d probably be a little upset at the surprise, but no child with John would she have ever seen as unwanted. She also imagined him insisting that she continue her studies and pictured a baby basinet sitting in his small office. With the two of them taking shifts during the day while she was in class. Knowing how efficient he was with scheduling, he probably would plan his teaching schedule around that. Rose would have found this such a wonderful comfort to finally know the answers to some questions that had been bothering her about John. If not for the cruel voice in the back of her head reminding her that John wasn’t even real to begin with, she’d be glad to finally know the answer to the children question. Every detail tugged at her heart strings and reminded her of just how incredibly advanced The Doctor was by comparison to her own species now. It was understandable that she would be so easily fooled. Who wouldn’t have been? These thoughts saved her from many feelings of embarrassment at having been so easily tricked. Her heart and mind were at war with each other. Her heart so desperately wanted to take John’s words to…well heart, and use them as a source of comfort for her lonely journey ahead. But her mind continued to remind her that for her own survival and mental health she needed to come to terms with reality. But even then The Doctor had not always been cruel to her. She had fond memories of him as his older self that resembled her husband and even pleasant ones with as he was now. But if John wasn’t The Doctor and just a disguise then who had she been romancing with all along after John opened the watch? That had been The Doctor, so had he had lingering feelings from his memories of John or had he fallen for her on his own? Who had been romancing her? The Doctor? The Doctor with John’s memories to aid him? Her heart debated with her mind over what harm it could possibly be just to pretend that John had been a real person separate from The Doctor. Doing so could be considered deluded but right now she wanted to avoid the complicated issue of what made up John or The Doctor’s soul. And have something of comfort to fall back on. Maybe she should call her mother. Rose reached for the phone, but thought better of it. She needed time to calm down and sort what she wanted to say before her Mother swept in and took over everything. No Rose was a big girl and she would settle things on her own with where her life was headed. Rose felt herself growing ever tired as she rested her head on her pillow and dreamed surprisingly sweet dreams.

“Professor Smith, Sorry, I’m late for our appointment!” Shouted a half out of breath student to his professor seated behind his office desk. Professor Smith put his finger warningly to his lips and hissed,

“Quiet, mind you I take 10 points off your next exam if you wake the baby.” The student clammed up now remembering the strict ‘Do not wake the baby’ policy of his new parent professor. Many students had worried that their semester with the great Professor John Smith would be watered down by his new fatherhood, but most were finding quite the opposite. If anything the class was just more concentrated and the students marveled at how he and his now university-student wife had scheduled their lives around their infant. One or two teachers who would go nameless had complained about there being a baby crying in the building or Smith having a basinet in his classroom as disruptive to the learning process. However, once more to his defense, the head of the department had claimed that he saw no reason as long as all material for the class was covered. In fact, he said that if it did anything it might showcase to the students just how much time and energy went into caring for a infant and discourage any student from unprotected extracurricular activities. For now the baby was in John’s office and would remain so for her afternoon nap until her mother came back for a feeding. John had insisted that Rose have a social life outside of the baby and this next two hours after her current class were for Rose to socialize and study with her classmates. Rose rarely stayed out for the full two hours. She either missed her family or really needed to relieve some pressure with a feeding. Still Rose had that wiggle time to get done what she needed between classes on campus and for that she was grateful for John’s help. 

John turned his head back over to check on his little girl every so often between grading papers and conversing with students. He had even on one occasion conducted an entire office hour session with said baby sleeping on his chest. An adorable act which was much gossiped by the students and staff as the baby never even stirred a moment. In short, John Smith took to fatherhood like a duck to water.

John saw his last student for office hours out the door and then quietly closed the door behind him. His little girl had been as good as gold and had not even stirred during his office hours, but now it seemed that once things were truly quiet than she would always start to wake up for a feeding. John threw a rag over his shoulder and picked up his fussy child. He grabbed a bottle of milk, from a warming case, provided earlier by Rose, and began feeding his daughter. She was a very good eater and drank down the nourishment all the while making cooing noises and giving her father smiles. John smiled back and once she was finished burped her. 

“Is my little girl getting sleepy?” John inquired softly of his baby as she usually drifted off into a little food coma after a good meal. He held her a bit longer and then placed her back in her basinet to sleep off the meal. She’d be up again in less than an hour when she was wet, so he better get some papers graded before she woke up. 

John was half way through grading a paper when the door to his office opened slowly.

“Office hours are over, sorry.” Whispered John to his guest without looking up.

“Shame, guess I’ll come back later.” Answered a voice that John knew was his wife, Rose’s. He looked up surprised and quietly exclaimed,

“No, no, I can definitely fit you in. Always have slots cleared for you. Rose, you’re a bit early today. Not that I’m complaining, love.”

  
  


“Class let out early, the Professor’s wife just went into labor so he obviously had better places to be.” Smirked Rose to her husband.

“I know how that feels. Your water just had to break on Finals day.” Laughed John, but Rose just chuffed, 

“Like that was my fault. Got you out of that boring dinner with those sponsors that evening, didn’t I?”

  
  


“A fact that I will continue to worship you as a Goddess of Timing for.” Smiled John as Rose came over and laid a kiss on his lips over the desk. Rose brushed her hair facing the basinet behind her ear and peered down on her daughter. She was sound asleep facing away from her mother and father.

“Has she eaten yet?” John gave a nod and Rose groaned a little bit, 

“Darn, guess I’ll have to pump in a bit then. So much for Goddess of Timing. Did you bring the spare pump with her things today?” Rose then sat down on her husband’s lap and watched her baby.

“Professor.” Grinned Rose as she made herself comfortable on his lap.

“Oi, nothing kinky here, Love. Though you aren’t even a student in my class, so I guess it’s not too kinky anyway...Student. Speaking of which. You should really take every opportunity to enjoy the college experience. I’ve got things covered here.”

  
  


“I’m not missing out, John. My mates and I got that concert we're going to coming up this Friday night, Remember? And I just wanted to spend time with my family today.” Smiled Rose as she gave him another kiss. This one a bit more needy and not as appropriate for public display. 

“Well, I guess I can help you have the full college experience right here on my desk.” Growled John roguishly to his wife as he rubbed Rose hips with his thumbs. 

"Raging hormones seem to be part of the college experience, judging by all the classes of students that I've observed over the years. You practically smell them in the air as finals grow closer. Letting off steam, I guess." He purred as his hand ran up from her hips to her chest.

“Really? You actually want to play naughty professor with the baby sleeping nearby?” Rose scolded in mock seriousness to tease him. The idea of fooling around with her husband was not unpleasing, but the baby did need her rest. In the same teasing manner, John rumbled in her ear,

“She’s not a light sleeper and we can be quiet... Very... quiet.” Rose giggled and after a quick and, as promised, quiet handsy snog, John leaned back in his chair and noted,

“Besides I’d be more concerned with the likelihood of Rachael next door complaining again." Thumbing at the appropriate adjoining wall. 

"I wish she’d get it in her head that there is nothing scandalous about a married man and his wife kissing in his office? Sure there was that one time we accidentally hit the wall hard, but other than that it hardly warrants such irritation.” Grumbled John as Rose stroked his jumper covered chest as a gesture of comfort.

“Jealousy is really unbecoming of some people. I think she’s more steamed because that’s all she can complain about since everyone, but her, loves the baby.” Smirked Rose as she cooed over her child from a distance. John nuzzled his head against Rose's shoulder and kissed her neck.

“True, I haven’t heard too many complaints about little…” John began to say but was interrupted by their baby crying. Rose got out of John’s lap and made her way over to the basinet. She was just getting her child into her arms when she woke up.

At first Rose was very much disoriented when she awoke. It was very dark and raining heavily outside. The wind howled and the rain beat against the glass of her bedroom windows. She felt around and almost mistook her body pillow for another person in her half woken haze.

“John, where…” Rose mumbled to the empty side of the bed. No sooner had the words left her lips then her mind finally woke up completely. The vivid dream was over. She looked about the lonely and empty room and she cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> ‘Angst’ the Musical. That’s what I should rename this story. Sorry guys, I know this isn’t the most uplifting series, but there is very good pay off. I hope to get a few comments for providing some tasty fluff at the end for you, just a little. I think Rose is cooping rather well, don't you? Like, Comment.... check out the link....
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	26. A path to redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heart to hearts talk is needed.

Complications

By The Plot-Thinens

Chapter 26 – A path to redemption

The Doctor observed that Rose looked anything but rested that morning when she exited the Smith house for work. In fact she looked very upset, more so than usual. At first he worried that something was wrong with their baby as he watched her, but he would have detected some hint of distress through the door to his daughter’s mind. And Rose would have definitely consulted him, or at least a physician, if it were something serious. No it was something else. Although considering what an arse he’d been lately, what didn’t she have to feel upset about? Did she not like the gift? The Doctor decided that he would wait ten minutes and follow Rose to work today. A quick sonic scan could be done easily and discreetly enough through the window of the shop when he got there.

Rose’s much shaken up appearance, did not go unnoticed by Heather when the blond came through the front door. With concern on her voice Heather inquired,

“Are you well? Rose you look very ill. In your condition you probably should have called in sick if you didn’t feel good.”

“I’m not sick, it just... Oh, it’s stupid to get upset over it. I feel like such a little kid.” Declared Rose embarrassed.

‘What is it? Come on, what are ears for but to listen to other’s problems? This would be a time when my ears are actually amiable to listen. Vent a little and you will feel better. Can’t have you working with your thoughts off someplace else. I have enough part-time student employees doing that just because they are bored.” Rose decided that she needed someone to talk to, and since her usual contacts were obviously out of the question, Rose decided that a confession with a few omissions would be enough explanation for now. 

Rose, between held back shivers of sobs, told Heather that she had dreamt of her dead husband last night, but not just that. She also relayed that her dream had also included the life they might have had together as parents to which she told most of the details. By the end of it Heather was likewise upset for Rose. She especially felt upset when Rose said that when she had woken up, for a brief moment, she had forgotten the reality of her situation and gone looking for him.

“That just…I truly feel for you, Rose. I don’t know what to…” Heather began but then settled for giving the younger woman as tight a hug as allowed. Heather was a mother of high-school-aged children that she had been lucky enough to raise with her husband.

“Are you sure you need to work today, Rose?” Heather whispered to the young mother to be.

“Yeah, I need to save up. I’ll be fine. Talking about it made me feel a lot better, really.” Smiled Rose putting a brave face on. The two then parted ways and went back to work.

It was an unusually busy day at the campus store, but fortunately it never got really noisy there except for the beginning and ending of a semester. She had a lot to do, which was good because it kept her distracted when she was feeling emotionally compromised. However, her mind was seemingly not meant to stay distracted and the least thing she needed was coming through the door.

The Doctor arrived on campus and headed straight for his usual spot across from the store and waited. Waited for a glance of Rose so he could perform a very simple test on Rose. He sat around for about an hour and half before he noticed that the usually healthy bit of foot traffic on campus was steadily growing. It seemed a bit busier than usual, perhaps there was an event or open house or something on campus today. Whatever it was the store was busy. In fact, it was so busy that he might even be able to slip in, catch a glance of Rose, sonic her, and slip back out without being seen. He could pull that off, why not? Who was more subtle than he? No one. Who was a better master of stealth? No one. He could then spend the rest of the day analyzing the sonic scans and trying to talk to his daughter. He’d do it, he’d sneak in.

Emotionally speaking, Rose had spent the majority of the day feeling the equivalent of sea trash left a drift in the middle of the ocean. Moving about just following the current of the day. Stocking shelves up toward the front of the store. She’d hate to admit that she was more or less using Heather as a substitute mother for Jackie. Rose loved her mother, but it was nice having a mother like figure who could view the situation she sort of conveyed to Heather objectively without past prejudices. Which was why she was really wishing that today Heather didn’t have a staff meeting to attend for the university’s onsite businesses. She’d be out for most of the day. She would have really liked to have a bit of tea with her around lunchtime. 

Rose was on her knees on the floor putting some university logo mugs on the bargain shelf when she heard an unpleasantly familiar voice. And she did not need what was coming her way.

“Oh hello, Mrs. Smith. Where have you been? Your husband sure pulled the wool over the university’s eyes. I guess yours too. Working back in the shop, I see. Guess your money for classes dried up then?” Said a voice dripping with spite and a feeling of superiority. She then took a quick look at Rose’s stomach and not waiting for Rose to respond Rachael added with a smirk, 

“Oh and expecting too. So what is he doing now? Obviously out of work if you are back here. Or did he run once the jig was up? We have a pool going among a few of the faculty. Sorry about marrying a conman, other people are too smart to fall for that sort of thing.” 

Rose was already feeling vulnerable that day and the last thing she wanted was a repeat encounter with arrogant Professor Rachael. After having such a tender dream about John last night and still being raw from the feelings of joy and sadness she had from them, she didn’t want to listen to someone trash talking him. Rachael’s harsh words at first made Rose want to cry, but that quickly turned into rage and a growing desire to break one of the woman’s pointed cheek bones. Her eyes went dark with fury, but then she caught herself. She was working and one of the things that retail workers had to deal with were rude customers. Though usually the issue was with merchandise or what the customer thought was subpar service. A customer had never attacked her with intimate knowledge before. But it wasn’t like Rose could take a swing at her even if she wanted to. Well, she could but then she’d lose her job even if she could blame it on stereotypical hormones. Even Heather wouldn’t abide that. Plus Rachael was higher up on the totem pole. Rose probably would be the one fired even if Rachael took the first swing. No she would have to use words, Rose thought as she stood up and looked the slightly taller woman in the eyes. Rose was about to ‘kill with kindness’ when a man swept in from Rose’s peripheral and addressed Rachael, effectively shielding Rose from the woman’s condescending looks.

“Excuse me, madam.” Said the man that Rose now registered as The Doctor. His voice was dripping with a charm that no human man or woman could resist. Rachael was very impressed with the presence and appearance of this stranger and seemed to forget Rose completely in favor of directing her attention to the man. 

“Well hello, sir. How can I help you?” Asked Rachael as her eyes made a sensual glance at the man before coming back up to meet his. The Doctor held back a sickened look and gave her his best smile.

“You’re Professor Rachael Blaine, correct?” The Doctor inquired of Rachael.

“Why, yes I am. Have you heard of me?” She asked the very handsome man very breathily. She was quite flattered by him recognizing her, whoever the fetching rogue was. The Doctor nodded with a smile then took out his psychic paper and flashed it in front of Rachael’s face. She was of course impressed but before any more honey dripped comments could come out of her mouth The Doctor announced rather loud, enough to be heard in the slightly busy store,

“Yes, you’re the person who makes fun of working pregnant women, whose husbands are dead. You must be very proud of yourself, picking on widows? Which one of your degrees taught you how to do that? Well, you obviously didn’t get one in humanities, yeah? …Gonna have to bring this right up to the president of the university. Shameful and unbecoming of our University. Don’t worry by the time I’m done, you might be able to get a job working at this shop too…But then again maybe not. I can’t see anyone wanting to work with a horrible person like you. Retail has standards.” Rachael didn’t know what to say, she was humiliated by such a higher up and in front of a large crowd of people who had all stopped to listen in on the loud conversation. Her face turned bright red and she quickly left the store, not daring to look back.

“She won’t be showing her face around here anymore.” Noted The Doctor before turning his attention to Rose.

“Thank you. That was a nice thing you did for me. Saved me the trouble of having to take her down a peg myself.” Rose declared while sounding more confident than she had actually felt at the time. The Doctor smiled at Rose and replied quietly while avoiding eye contact, 

“I couldn’t stand by and let that…woman treat you like anything less than the fantastic person you are. Enough people have done that to you. I don’t want to see it happen ever again. I’ll go now. I’ve attracted enough attention to myself.” The Doctor than paused his speech and looked Rose in the eyes.

“I might have said it to her, but I’m not dead, I’m right here. Obviously saying so would have made me look crazy and I can imagine you don’t want that kind of attention directed around you at work.” He whispered low in concern for appearance in front of other members of her species. Rose didn’t say anything but her eyes never broke contact with his.

“I’ll see you around and maybe we can talk about the future?” The Doctor requested very hopefully. How ironic that The Doctor, the man who gave no second chances, wanted a second chance with Rose so badly.

“Yeah…” Rose whispered back in a manner that much to The Doctor’s disappointment did not give him a clear answer to if she was in favor of a future with him or not. Just a ‘yeah'. Of course the fact that they were being stared at by everyone in the store might have had something to do with her subdued reaction as well. None the less The Doctor smiled at his wife, and after a quick whirling noise that Rose knew was The Doctor’s sonic, he left.

Rose appreciated his help. Truly she did. It was sometimes difficult for retail workers to defend themselves while they are in uniform and usually have to stomach a lot of abuse. Defending yourself or others could result in you being fired and the rude customer being rewarded. No one knew this more than Rose. She would have been able to handle the situation herself, but it wouldn’t have been as streamline a process like The Doctor had used. He had been there for her when she was in a tight spot and although it did not redeem him in her eyes yet, it was a display of behavior moving in the right direction.

Four more days passed since The Doctor defended Rose against his former faculty member. Rose would acknowledged his presence when she went into work and left. The Doctor would also come in and buy nibbles even if it didn’t result in him seeing Rose. Sometimes it did, and he would wave and she’d wave back before returning to whatever she was doing. The Doctor would then go back to his business of sitting outside. Then there were the times she’d be at register and The Doctor would dutifully wait his turn on line just to look her in the eyes. Well worth any wait. And sometimes he would forgo his turn, if it meant going to the other staffer on register instead. He’d just wait until Rose’s register was free and make his purchase with psychic paper there. Rose would roll her eyes at these transactions and The Doctor usually left with a new banana. It was a weird social exchange between them, but not uncomfortable.

The Doctor sat at his usual table talking to his baby telepathically. Well not talking, but words at least being exchanged. The Doctor had been so happy and surprised to hear from his daughter that his exclaims startled an elderly professor and her husband. He had made progress but as happy as he had been, he found himself being sad again when the words he realized that he was getting from his daughter were ‘Mummy…sad…alone…hurt…’ He knew what she meant. She sensed her mother’s emotions. He had been the cause of her mother’s distress and he was going to face the consequences for his actions. He had sent reassuring words to his daughter, promising that he would not be the source of her pain anymore if Rose would let him prove it.

“So who’s this guy who keeps coming to visit you? I’ve seen him let people pass in front of him just so he can go to your register.” Heather questioned Rose as the two regarded the man sitting off in the distance seemingly distracted by a bird in a nearby tree. Really he was telepathically sending a projection of the bird to his daughter, but to the untrained eye, he was staring at a bird.

Now that was a good question. What was The Doctor to her now? She certainly couldn’t tell the truth that he was an alien newly regenerated. Hell, she didn’t believe the truth sometimes. Still she needed an adequate excuse for him lingering around as he seemed intent to do for the foreseeable future. She sighed, she would have to make up a lie and hope that if it came up that The Doctor had enough sense to play along. For lack of a better explanation, she told her manager,

“He’s…His name is Doctor John Smith.” Heather looked astonished that the man had the same name as Rose’s dead husband and with wide eyes she looked to Rose for an explanation. Rose did not disappoint and continued,

“He’s John’s…brother. Their father was pretty dull, just gave them a different middle name? He’s John…David Smith.” Heather agree that that was indeed weird, but she could relate with eccentric parents. She herself was named after her father’s childhood pet duck. She looked over to the man as he walked away toward a flowering tree and began staring at it. Again projecting images for his little girl’s development.

Heather regarded the odd man. It now made sense to her as to why Rose seemed a bit uneasy around the man if he had the same name as her dead husband. He had to be concerned for her if he wasn’t letting Rose wander too far from his sight. A bit clingy but so far Heather had not observed any negative or toxic signs in his behavior. She got a feeling that he could be trouble if crossed, but he didn’t seem to be any danger to Rose.

“Well I’m sure he is just worried about you and the baby after the loss you’ve gone through.” Alluded Heather with concern in her voice over Rose. The blond again could find no truthful way to explain her anxiety so once more she made up a lie that was as close to the truth as she could get. Rose hinted that she suspected that John David would probably like to start dating her as well. That sort of made even more sense to the older woman. Heather expressed that she thought that he was probably getting ahead of himself. Most likely Rose would need more time before she would consider that. Since Rose was just widowed, but still a man who was so eager to date her even when she was already pregnant with someone else’s child was nothing to sneeze at in her opinion.

“Does he have a job?” Heather inquired, and Rose let out a much needed laugh. Heather seemed to be channeling Jackie without knowing it.

“Yeah, not a conventional one, but it is a very important one. He loves it too and can’t go long without it. I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten back to it by now.” Rose declared. Heather was now certain that his sticking around was most likely out of concern for his sister-in-law.

“I know you are hurting now, but if he treats you right, then keep him in mind for later on down the road. A single parent needs all the help she can get.” Heather gently suggested.

“I’ve got so many questions to ask him before I could ever get to that stage you’re suggesting, Heather.” Remarked Rose at what Heather was implying.

“Well than perhaps you should start asking a few of those questions, dearie. Face your issues head on, that’s what I try to do.” Replied Heather. Rose didn’t say anything in response, she just turned her head to the side and looked like she indeed had a lot on her mind. Heather for worry, that if she kept talking that she would say too much, took that as the end of the conversation. 

“I’ll let you get back to work, Rose.” Stated Heather as she went back to do her end of business around the store.

The next day Rose took a half day, much to The Doctor’s surprise and he followed. Rose knew he probably would out of concern that she might be feeling sick. Dutifully The Doctor trailed behind her until she stopped and sat on a bench. It wasn’t the same bus bench as the fateful night John and Rose’s life together had taken off, but it was a similar enough setting. The Doctor sheepishly sat down at the other end of the long bench and took out his sonic.

“Are you not feeling well, Rose?” Questioned The Doctor as he ran a scan on Rose before the question was even finished. Rose took a deep breath and looked at The Doctor.

“No, I’m not well. I love you, Doctor, and I trusted you with my heart, but you broke that trust. I don’t know if it can ever be unbroken, don’t you see why I’m so upset?! And now I’m just left asking who are you?” Answered Rose who was clearly in distress.

“I’m me, Rose. Still me. Same me as when I was human, as when I had big ears. The same me, you know that. ” Implored The Doctor to his wife. Rose did not look convinced.

“Doctor who? I thought you were John. I believed that you were just the rest of John that he forgot, but now I think you were right, just a disguise walking around to hide from aliens! You did try to warn me and I didn’t listen, did I?" The Doctor flinched at his own words slapped back in his face. He cursed himself. He had said a lot of terrible things like that to Rose and despite that she had still fallen in love with him again. He abused this relationship so much that Rose was questioning if it was even worth it anymore. This was all his fault, he had done this to them. He was finding himself blanching in the face of such damning evidence of his conduct. Rose began talking again, him knowing full well she had the right and deserved to say every word that was on her mind and he deserved to hear it all.

“But then you had to make me fall in love with you again. You broke my heart twice and I only have one. Hell, I guess this could count as the third time breaking my heart since you left me three times.” Muttered Rose. The Doctor felt the stab of Rose’s pain and they were silent for a bit.

“You were in love with her.” Rose stated, it was not a question. The Doctor knew who she was referring to.

“I was infatuated with her. I didn’t love her, I love you.” The Doctor stated as his weak defense.

  
  


“You left me for her! You don’t leave your wife and child for a woman you don’t love by your own admission! You left me for another woman, it pains me. Because…if I am to believe what you are telling me. You, my old Doctor, and John are all the same person… Then I’m left to believe that John, in time, would have cheated on me and I never could have thought that of him. I never would have seen it coming. Naïve me would have been completely broadsided when it happened.” Rose cried out at her logical conclusion as she wiped her burning tears. The Doctor looked horrified at these words. A part of the back of his head was screaming in agony and protested so loud that he thought his skull might split. As if a fire were chasing the words from his mouth, so that they would move faster, he spoke,

"You don't believe that!" The Doctor was hurt by her words and it was evident on his voice.

"What else can I do now?" Retorted Rose as she fought back more tears while looking him dead in the eye.

“Oh nononono Rose, John would have never done something like that to you! He would have died before ever hurting you, especially in such a way, I promise you that!” The Doctor assured Rose.

“Then why did you? Why did you stray for a fling with a French whore? Do you have any idea how many diseases she probably had? For your own sake I sure hope that you get yourself tested! ...Just… Just why…?” Rose shouted in raw anger and frustration. Maybe what she was saying about the woman was crude and unkind, but she had been sitting on this confusion for quite a while now and it just had to come out without a polite filter.

For a brief moment The Doctor felt a slight anger at Rose for calling Reinette a whore. It was Reinette after all that had allowed him to come back to Rose so quickly in the first place. Fortunately he thought better of it as jumping to defend the honor of a woman that he had abandoned his wife and child for would certainly not do him any favors. Rose was undeniably unhappy and right now any expression of displeasure besides her ordering him to remove himself from her presence was fine in his book. But that still left the question, why did he do such a thing to Rose? Why, when he at the same time could swear up and down that John, the man he claimed still to be part of him, would sooner die than leave Rose? In fact he had, didn’t he? He had died twice already, so why with this body?! In equal frustration to articulate himself, which was funny since he almost was never without words, he attempted to explain himself,

“I don’t know! Maybe John didn't have all the mental baggage that I do now. Maybe John wasn't as messed up. Maybe John's whole purpose of existing wasn’t like mine! Mine for so long was just to find distractions to sidetrack me with so I’d never stop moving and go crazy thinking about all the bad things I've done! All the lives that I couldn’t save.”

“Is that all I am to you, a distraction? A distraction that isn’t doing it for you anymore?” Rose probed, her eyes piercing the Time Lord’s. The Doctor became much panicked at the misunderstanding of his words and waving his arms, as if to negate the train of thought she just had, he yelped,

“No! I did all those stupid things because I was telling myself I would eventually have to move on. I was trying to speed up the process and get past the rough parts that I knew were coming. I thought that the sooner I could convince myself that I could have other romances then maybe your death wouldn’t sting so badly. I was fooling myself. I’ll be honest with you, Rose. I have had many companions before. Oh so many other than Jack and Sarah Jane. And most of them meant everything to me too. And I had to let them go. They moved on with their lives…if they were lucky. I’ve had companions die on me, Rose! Right in front of me, just die. It eats at your soul, Rose. My soul is a half-eaten rotting mess that just longs for some comfort that it knows the universe will never see fit to give or permit. Because I just don’t deserve it. That’s what has become of me, Rose, that what will become of me after you are gone. I’ve always stalled parting with companions, but eventually they leave on their own. The only reason I’ve been trying to distance from you so quickly is because I love you too much and I couldn’t bear seeing you suffer. And I’ll suffer watching you die. You’re suffering death slowly right now and you don’t even see it because it’s just part of your natural life cycle. I care that this will happen, but I don’t want it to ruin what time we have left any more than I’ve already ruined things for us. I should have looked at things like you did. But I was a fool.” The Doctor ran his hand wildly through his hair needing to grasp at something as he spoke. Rose stayed quiet and let him continued as this was the most open and honest that she had seen him ever.

“I was trying to convince myself that you could be just like any companion in the right light. That special rules didn’t apply to you. But I was just kidding myself if I ever thought that I can see you as anything but extraordinary. And even more so if I thought that I could easily walk away from you. But I drove you to that. I made you walk away and then I saw what an idiot I had been. I’m sorry it took damaging our relationship to this point before I could realize it. I'm just so sorry, Rose.” The Doctor confessed.

“I just don’t understand how it made sense to you? Why is it now you see the obvious? Why couldn’t you see this before all this? You are going to lose me either way Doctor would it make you feel better to know that you punished us for our short lives and squandered the time we have . Or would you have rather spent that time we had getting the most out of our time? Which would be a better memory? Treating me coldly and remembering denying yourself me or having me and the baby for as long as I could give you? No one knows how long they have, Doctor.” Rose drove her point home in a stern voice. Obviously The Doctor, for his bragging about Time Lord Superiority, was just as, if not more so, inept with relationships. 

“I was too scared to see the obvious. My old self, when I wore leather, he didn’t really care or think as much about the future ironically enough, as this ‘me’ does. He was shell shocked and suffering from the worst PTSD. All he could live in was the here and now. He wouldn’t have tried to have thought down the road about what would eventually happen to a part human baby or a human wife. How he would watch you both age and die. And John never would have either. He had other concerns.” Explained The Doctor to his wife.

“Then why did you? If you are John too?” Demanded Rose. This was the closest she was ever going to get as an answer out of John and she wanted it. No she needed it. The Doctor tugged at his ears not unlike the way he used to in his previous form and ripping the most likely reason from his brain he sputtered out.

“John… never had the baggage I did or the fear of eternity. His biggest fear was leaving you a widow when you were too young to be widowed. Or leaving any children without a father and you to care for them alone. My biggest worry is knowing that someday I will lose you both and have to go on for longer still. Quite the opposite of John’s situation. I guess as selfish as it is, death is an easier subject when you are pretty much guaranteed to check out first. John wouldn’t have had to live through losing a loved one or seeing any pain from their passing. I will have to witness that, but that pain, you’re right, not having the memories to fall back on would be worse than having them.” Rose sat and absorbed the information. The Doctor was admitting his mistake and being honest, but she still wasn’t ready to forgive him yet. The Doctor then reached out and held Rose’s hand, which she allowed for that moment. 

“Look anything I’ve said already to provide explanation are still all bad reasons and excuses for cheating on my pregnant wife. I treated you poorly. There is literally no reason I can think that you should want to come back to me. Trust has been broken and you can never earn that trust back. Or at least not all of it. Please, if you never learn to trust me again about anything but one thing, know that I did not sleep with Reinette. We kissed the one time and we danced on a dance floor at a party. In a room full of people. That is it!” Whimpered The Doctor to his wronged wife.

Rose stared at The Doctor. This behavior was so alien from The Doctor and especially The Doctor with John’s face. As far as she could tell he was being up front and honest and she had not detected a hint of evasion. He had answered all her question despite the fact that they had seemed to be utterly painful to voice aloud. Some doing him no favors. She had been more or less dead set against returning to The Doctor but now she was finding herself precariously sitting on the fence. She knew that it would be wrong to keep the father out of her baby’s life. She had grown up without a father and she didn’t want the same for her child, but what did she do? There was time to figure it out but for now she guessed that letting The Doctor work at repairing their relationship that he damaged wasn’t a terrible option. And from his approach he seemed to be ready and willing to start off at square one again for as long as it took to get back to where they were. She didn’t know if that was possible yet, but she guessed they could try. But becoming friends again was most likely possible. In short she believed him that he didn’t have sex with Reinette, but that did not change the fact that he had abandoned his family for Reinette and was planning to do that anyway. She did not yet forgive him. 

“I believe you.” Declared Rose in what might have been the beginning of beginnings of a smile. Well it was more like some minor moving up of facial muscles a fraction of a centimeter that the Time Lord registered as a smile anyway. It wasn’t anywhere close to the smiles he was in the past used to receiving from Rose Tyler, but it was hope to build a possible future on. She then got up and walked the rest of her way to the house.

The Doctor was elated. Rose believed him! That was a start. Which meant they might possibly be friends again or could become friends again! This was indeed a good step in the right direction toward forgiveness. Now he just had to convince Rose to spend more time with him.

Another day was out and Rose was finally back at home. The sun was starting to say goodbye for the day and it was looking to be a lovely night. Rose took in the air as she stepped up to her front door and turned the key. She walked inside and made her way to the kitchen for a cup of ‘TARDIS tea’, sort of a blend to relax her pregnant body with. The medicine that had been provided to her from some, she discovered, bigger on the inside pill bottle had been keeping her nausea down. She made this discovery when she accidentally knocked over the bottle and many more pills than expected fell out. It had taken a bit of time to clean them all up. She also didn’t feel as drained as she did a few weeks ago and the vitamins from the TARDIS, Rose reasoned, had something to do with it. Her feet didn’t hurt thanks to the new shoes and she was looking forward to spending an evening catching up on East Enders. That at least was until about a half hour later there was a knock on the front door.

The blond carefully sat up and slightly waddled to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by the happy and hopeful looking face of The Doctor. Dressed as usual in pinstripes but looking somehow more polished than usual. Had he clean all the dirt off his dirty chucks?

“Hello I'm your new neighbor. I'm...well Dirt, Doctor Dirt. You can call me Doctor if you like…or Dirt…either is appropriate. I, um, sort of just moved into the area. I’ll be honest and up front. I'm a time traveling space alien. And my house is the blue box in your garden.” Grinned The Doctor sheepishly and Rose actually cracked a smile. 

“Any way, I see that you are home for the evening and I was wondering…If you don’t have any other plans for the night, if a lovely young lady like yourself would be interested in perhaps going to this Italian place that I discovered down the way. I believe we are both familiar with it. They will even put bananas on your pie if you ask them. Isn’t that fantastic?! Of course, if you would rather go someplace else that is understandable…Or no place at all and you’d like me to turn around and leave...Than that’s just as understandable. And, please stop me from talking before I dig myself a deeper grave.” Begged The Doctor to his estranged wife that he very much wanted to be un-estranged to. Rose took a moment to regard The Doctor. She then looked at the clock on the wall by the foyer, it was early yet and she guessed she wasn’t too tired to leave the house. She didn’t feel like dolling herself up either and the casual to formal dress code of said restaurant meant all she’d have to do is grab a hoodie and go. Rose shrugged her shoulders and replied as if she might be talking about the weather,

“Why not, I was starting to get hungry anyway, but you’re paying.” Rose then went into the house to grab said hoodie. Rose might be agreeing to go out with the father of her child and they might be starting a friendship again, but Rose had been burned by The Doctor before. She was going to keep her heart well-guarded until she was completely convince of not only his sincerity but his commitment to his words. Only then would she be able to see a path where she forgave him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: 
> 
> A wise person once said, The Doctor is like fire; get too close and you get burnt. Another said once bitten, twice shy. Well, Rose, I think has a right to play it safe for a while don’t you? Stay tuned kiddies, we’ll be wrapping up this part soon and be back in TIME AND SPACE! I really had to plan this argument out of a year’s worth of notes and get something I liked.


	27. Begging, Begging and more begging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New beginnings.

**Complications**

by the Plot Thinens

_ Chapter 27 – Begging, Begging and more begging _

The Doctor had crafted a ring with a White Point Star. The ring that held that diamond had more tech in it than met the eye, but thanks to some tweaking and TARDIS tech would seem like a normal ring to anyone else. The engraving on the inside also added to it looking like another ring, ‘Forever My Beloved Rose’. A slight variant from the original engraving inside Rose’s wedding ring. Obviously now was not a good time to give it to Rose. It was wishful thinking for later down the road on his part, but it would stay as a weight in his pocket until that opportunity came that Rose might actually accept it. John had never given Rose an engagement ring. Rose had not wanted one and Rose had thought that it was more fun to keep their engagement a secret on campus than not. But it had bothered John a little bit that he never got Rose an engagement ring and that in turn bothered The Doctor. He wanted to give Rose not just a reminder that he was committed to her and their family. He wanted to literally give a part of himself to Rose, which could be done telepathically. He had been in the mind of Reinette and that was a nice feeling that he had not felt in years, but he wanted that with Rose more. Her mind in his and his in hers. The ring stood for the Earth symbol in appearance but in reality it was also an amplifier to help Rose to be able to sense him from a short distance similar to the way Time Lords had. That is if she ever wanted that with him. So in his pocket sat the lead weight for the time being as they made their way to the restaurant. How ironic that he once had been carrying around a ring in his pocket that Rose had wished he’d wear, and now he was carrying around a ring he wished Rose would wear.

They arrived at the Italian restaurant and it was getting darker. It was a nice little place with an area to sit outside and eat when it was warmer, but for now The Doctor wanted to be inside the warm inviting interior with Rose. Rose took in a whiff of the air outside the Antonio’s Italian Restaurant and nodding her head declared,

“Well my stomach isn’t retching from the smell, so I think this will be good tonight.”

“You’ve been sick from smelling different foods?” Asked The Doctor, he was unaware of such information.

“Yeah, last couple of weeks. The pills work great for the nausea, but the baby knows what she wants and my stomach lately is happy to do what she wants these days. I’ve made myself something to eat only to lose my appetite for it as soon as it’s cooked.” Noted Rose. The Doctor felt awful for not knowing that Rose was going through such discomfort alone. He should have been there to bring her whatever she wanted to eat rather than her having to get it herself. Or carry food away from her sight when it was going to make her retch. He knew that she was anything but an invalid, but he wanted to do that for her. With every passing moment, as a result of his foolishness, he was missing out on precious moments that he would never have again. Rose and he were not genetically compatible so this was to be their one and only child. The Doctor wanted to beat his head in against the ornate lamppost outside the restaurant until he saw stars.

“Well if you get anymore cravings...in the future, I’d be glad to get you whatever you need.” Offered The Doctor. Rose gave a noncommittal hum and the two walked inside to be seated.

“Antonio!” Cheered The Doctor at seeing the familiar manager of the restaurant that he knew Rose had frequented back when he was the old human him.

“I'm sorry have we met before? I’m afraid I get lots of customers and I can’t always keep track of them all.” Laughed Antonio, he was a little nervously at the overly friendly stranger. The Doctor looked crest fallen when he remembered that no one he once knew as a human would recognize him anymore. The man looked expectantly for an answer from The Doctor, The brown haired stranger acted like he obviously knew him but nothing was coming through to remind Antonio of the man’s identity. Antonio then turned his eyes to someone he had not seen in over a year.

“Mrs. Rose Smith, it has been too long! I worried you would never come back! And look at you! How soon can I expect the 3rd customer in your family? We have a great children’s menu when he’s old enough.” Announced Antonio as his eyes looked down on her growing belly. 

“Oh, it’s a girl, not a boy.” Corrected Rose, who then smiled for the very enthusiastic man. 

“Sorry, but again I’m happy to see you. It would be a shame to lose such good customers like yourself and John.” The man then realized that Rose was obviously being accompanied by this stranger. He looked behind them and a bit more than curious asked, 

"Where has Mister Smith gone today, my dear?”

The Doctor was about to make an excuse, but before he could Rose replied, a bit sadly, 

  
  


"He's dead. He passed away just before last Christmas. We are… I’m expecting our child." The talkative restaurant owner was at that moment speechless. Then he remembered his manners and replied in an apologetic tone,

"Mrs. Smith I'm… I'm so sorry. I didn’t. I wouldn’t have brought it up had I…"

“You didn't know. It's fine." Rose assured him. The owner felt so sorry for Rose to have a husband dead and to be expecting too. How sad to have what is supposed to be a joyous time marred by a tragedy. Still this was the sort of thing that was more likely to happen when you married an older person but it was still tragic. The owner then turned his head back to The Doctor. The Time Lord was seeing that the man was wondering what his affiliation to Rose was and before Rose could answer this time, The Doctor said,

"I'm John Smith. I’m John’s younger brother. And before you say it, yes, it's the same name. My Dad was a bit dull to say the least. He gave us all the same name as him and just gave us different middle names. Kinda like that grill boxer man did, um ooo ah, Foreman. That was the man, George Foreman. Full name is Doctor John… David Smith. Father was a bit of an eccentric. Wanted to make sure that there would be a John Smith with his DNA walking around after he was gone. So my brother was the heir and me the spare." The Doctor would have probably kept on chatting away had Rose not lifted her hand slightly to indicate that he was overwhelming Antonio a bit. As for Antonio, the man could only think that that was terrible to have your brother in-law have the same name as your dead husband.” Rose looked a bit stunned by his response, which had been pretty much the story she had given before about him…But The Doctor had not been there to hear it. Had he read her mind or something? With a Time Lord that was a possibility. Rose saw that The Doctor looked a bit confused too, as if the explanation had come from nowhere. The two realized that Antonio was giving another apology for their loss of a brother and husband. The both nodded still confused by what had happened and then noticed that they were being sat down to eat at the finest table in the house. 

“You two relax and have a nice time. Lord knows you deserve it after what you two have been through. John was a great man, drink to his memory…Oh not you Mrs. Smith, I’ll get you some sparkling grape juice instead!” Rose said her thanks and Antonio was about to go when The Doctor stood up and started speaking in Italian to Antonio. He looked a bit surprised at first, but then the two converse for about a minute before the restaurant owner went off to the kitchen.

“I’ve ordered you a surprise, Rose. I hope you like it. But you’ll have to wait until after dinner.” He smiled.

“My powers of deduction tell me it’s a dessert. I don’t recall you ever ordering in another language before. The TARDIS always translated so I knew what was going on.” Rose laughed as she continued not knowing how to feel, 

“This you…You’re so different.” Her tone was just such that The Doctor wasn’t exactly sure what Rose was getting at, if she was longing for the old him or just tired of the new him. Not wanting any bigger a pit to open up between him and his old selves, The Doctor took a risk and answered,

“Not so different, Rose Tyler Smith. I still want to kiss those lips of yours as much as I secretly did as old big ears.” There was awkward silence.

‘Okay, not the reaction I was hoping for.’ Thought The Doctor to himself as their waiter brought them their menus and Antonio came back with the two special drinks for the couple dining. The Doctor ordered spaghetti and meatballs while Rose settled on a pasta chicken salad. It did not take long for their food to show up, much to The Doctor’s disappointment as he wanted to talk to Rose for longer. Now that the food was in front of him all he could seem to do was put a bib on himself and ramble about noodles. Rose noticed that he got some sauce on him, to whom The Doctor with a horrified gasp looked down to his suit, in a manner that made Rose laugh. The Doctor was relieved that she just meant he had gotten some sauce on his bib and his precautions had paid off.

‘Well at least I got her laughing again.” Thought The Doctor who then without thinking about it said,

“We should go to an antigravity diner! With bibs, only if they have good bibs.” The Doctor then looked into Rose’s eyes for a response since he just implied that they would travel together in the TARDIS again which was dangerously presumptuous and could harm his chances at ever getting Rose back.

“That is, if you ever wanted to. It’s just a nice place, I wasn’t suggesting you had to go or ever go if you didn’t want to.” He corrected himself in a panic. Rose was finding that The Doctor’s anxiety levels seemed to be increasing with every minute. He was acting more like a teenager on a first date, or like any miswording on his part would send her fleeing from his presence. She was on her home planet, she had agreed to come, and no one was making her. He should relax and just eat his meal. 

“Doctor, you can talk about planets and things, believe it or not, I still like to hear about that sort of thing. I’m not the one who’s changed. Be whoever it is that you are and we’ll see if we mix. I find it hard to believe that someone like you can’t just be social.” Remarked Rose.

“But I’m not being social with just anyone, it’s you. And…and well for lack of a better way to put it. I want you to like me again.” Confessed The Doctor, who continued,

“I mean you can love someone but not like them. I loved my cousins but I didn’t always like them.” Rose looked up from her food a bit surprised, 

“I never knew you had cousins.”

“Yeah, I guess I kept information about my family very close to the vest.” The Doctor answered with embarrassment on his voice as he ruffled his hair with one hand.

Rose was responding very well to this more open Doctor and asked to hear more about his family, if he didn’t mind. It was an actually painful thing to recall his family, but so was the pain of the thought of losing Rose so he began to tell her some basic information about Gallifreyan houses. This included the topic of looming. And for reasons a bit too complicated for him to get into over dinner, the traditional way of reproducing was off the table. 

“Marriages were arranged from other houses and children were expected from that union, but not in the Earth sense. Looming, as I told you, was much more efficient and faster process than gestation. You remember I told you that we Gallifreyans were loomed, yeah?” Questioned The Doctor.

“Yup, you’re knitted like a sweater.” Rose said a bit cheekily. The Doctor let out an annoyed gruff again at the idea of him being compared to a sweater and then said,

“Yes, well there were reasons other than thinking the carnal version of reproduction was inefficient, but that’s for another time. I never really told you in detail how the process works. I’d like to do that now.”

“Go one, Doctor.” Encouraged Rose as the Doctor went into lecture mode and quietly explained to her so as not to be overheard by the other tables.

“Every Gallifreyan house had their own loom to produce more relatives when they were needed by the house. This exact number was dictated by law and penalties existed for breaking the cap on number of house members. Kept houses in balance. Anyway, these new relatives would be a spliced mixture of genetic material of the donors of the house, mixed for the greatest genetic diversity and hence perpetuating a healthy gene pool. The new house member brought in by marriage would also then add their desirable traits to the donor pool. Meaning that when the looming process was done, those whom a Gallifreyan child might identify as their mother and father, genetically speaking, would be their cousins. You weren’t any more related to them than anyone else in your family.” Explained The Doctor to his wife as she absorbed every word. Believing that she understood what The Doctor was implying, she asked for confirmation,

“So your ‘father’ was also your cousin. Blimey that has got to be confusing.”

Rose breathed in and exhaled, Time Lord Families were so alien to human families it was no wonder that The Doctor was so clueless sometimes. Still there was no way she was going to convince herself that after centuries of observing and living with humans that he didn’t have a rough idea of how human family groups worked. But it at least gave her some perspective on how odd it was going to be to be so genetically related to his daughter. This was such a foreign concept to Rose that the closest members of your family, even your parents, were all just your cousins. She had been raised in a manner where you were very closely related to your immediate family and to a Time Lord, this concept didn’t really exist. She almost wanted to ask if mothers and fathers were close to their children if they were barely related to them and created in such a detached and sterile process, but obviously from how pained The Doctor was by his family’s loss, at least he had developed close bonds to his house members. Take blood out of the way and more or less your bonds would be by personal relationship and not by blood.

  
  


“What is odd to you was normal for us. Someone always usually takes on the parenting role usually the two that started the looming process. Though closeness was not always required, some just did it as a duty to their house or as a means to an end to assure the house’s power and influence. The better the genes, the better the chance for greatness in that house over other houses. I was lucky in that I was cared for and well looked after for as long as I was in my ‘parent’s’ charge.” Answered The Doctor. He could tell that Rose was confused by the statement so he added,

“Children on my planet were taken from their families at eight to enroll in the Academy. It’s sort of like boarding school, there we go through initiation rites and start off our careers of preparing for adulthood. We could take many paths to learning, but some would study and those who passed became Time Lords or Ladies.” Rose didn’t think she liked the idea of sending her baby off to boarding school at eight, and guiltily she was relieved that her baby wouldn’t have to be raised in such a manner now. However, The Doctor had said something else that was interesting.

“So it is an earned title then, Time Lord.” Declared Rose in astonishment.

“Not every Gallifreyan becomes a Time Lord, no. You can study for almost 100 years trying to reach the rank of Time Lord. But I made it and you can imagine after so many years of studying and then trying to find my place in the universe, that I wanted to go traveling for a bit.” Explained The Doctor. Rose nodded in agreement.

“So I guess genetically speaking, being the actual father of your child and the gestation process are alien to you.” Stated Rose.

“Just a bit, yeah. Alien, but not unwelcomed a concept either. Rose the idea of being this related to our offspring thrills me. It’s fantastic!” Smiled The Doctor at Rose. Rose blushed and seeing that he had gone off topic, The Doctor continued his lesson on looming.

“Looming was like baking a cake, put together the ingredients and out pops a Time Tot. Very efficient, very quick.” The Doctor said almost clinically as Rose listened with her chin resting on her right palm. She was taking in this information very well, thought The Doctor.

“Though probably not as much fun to make, yeah?” Joked Rose. She then looked shocked at her own joke, since it obviously hinted at the process the two of them had unwittingly done to create the gestating hybrid currently inside of Rose. And that it had obviously been enjoyable. The Doctor looked away with a slight tinge on his cheeks and replied in a sheepish voice,

“Definitely not as much fun.” He felt as if he were not worthy to go back and remember such fond memories with Rose. And he hoped that Rose didn’t look back on them with too much regret since it landed her in her current situation with an unworthy alien begging to be let back into her life. Still he had very clear memories from his human incarnation, and fairly recently of how much fun ‘baby making’ was the human way. It had certainly been one of the most wonderful experiences he had ever had with another being and especially Rose.

It was then that their dinner plates were taken away and the dessert came out. It was Tiramisu gateau with some banana slices on top of it. In fact, Rose realized, this was the same dessert they had had when they first came here as Rose and John back when they were dating. How could she have forgotten a treat so sinfully good? It was a touching gesture that he remembered when Rose had had to remind herself for a moment of the significance of the pastry. As soon as the waiter was out of earshot the Doctor then said something that floored Rose.

“Happy Anniversary, Rose.” He mewed out in a meek and loving way. He wasn’t sure how she would take this information and his shoulders bunched up slightly waiting for her response. Rose was stunned, that was right, it was the calendar day John Smith and Rose Tyler had tied the knot! She had completely forgotten. She would have felt terrible but traveling on the TARDIS had made her indifferent to calendar dates. Time was relative and all she cared about was the day of the week. She’d yet to fall back into the human linear timeframe of life. That he had been the one to remember was amazing.

“I forgot…it slipped my head.” Rose confessed in almost a whisper. The Doctor did not look hurt in the slightest but replied,

“With all you’ve been through and I’ve put you through, I’m not surprised. I’m sorry, Rose. I’m sorry that things aren’t any better than they are now for us. I wish you could be overjoyed by today, but I understand why you would not be.” Of that The Doctor was right, Rose didn’t know how to feel under her circumstances, they were not ideal, but at least it wasn’t any worse.

“Thank you for remembering.” Was all she could think to say to The Doctor. That’s really all there was to say for the moment. The Doctor saw the mixture of confusion, hurt, and sadness in Rose, but held back the urge to grab for her hand.

“If you will let me, I promise that the next one will be better. One hundred times better!…Well if you can actually stand me for another year than I suppose it would have to be better…Not that I’m expecting you to want to have dinner with me on our next Anniversary, in fact we can forget about celebrating at all if you want…but I just want to make you happy. I know now that you don’t need me to be happy, but I still want to help with it however I can…And oh, I’m just going to eat my dessert now.” The Doctor sputtered out before cowardly retreating to his dessert. Rose looked at The Doctor hiding behind his sugary dessert as he ate and she made a slight smile. She supposed she should be angry with him, it was his actions that had brought their relationship to the point it was now, but looking at him for that vulnerable moment, she could not be mad.

Dessert finished off without incident and The Doctor took up the tab. Where he got the money from Rose was not going to ask, but the night had not cost her anything besides her time. Antonio wished Rose well, wished the baby well, and told John to watch after his brother’s wife and child. The Doctor nodded anxiously. He certainly wasn’t going to say no, but he didn’t know how Rose felt about him sticking around to ‘watch after’ her and the baby. He looked to Rose for some sign of approval or disapproval but saw no hint as to how to respond and had to just say that he would.

The walk back was quiet, the two not saying anything. Maybe it was just The Doctor panicking from the silence, but The Doctor felt as if the two of them were still slipping further apart. His Time Lord mind screamed for action to try once and for all to just do something to try to make things better. He just couldn’t risk playing it safe anymore and he broke down just as Rose was about to close the front door of the Smith house to him for the evening. As if his body moving of its own accord he got down on his knees with lightning speed that startled her and groveled at her feet.

“Rose, I was a fool. Bone dead stupid. I tried to throw away the time that we have together that I should have seen as a blessing and not a curse. Yes, I care that you are going to age and die, but not as much as I care about being there for you and the baby while you’re still here. I was scared and a coward looking for the fastest way out of heartache and all I did was cause more of it for everyone. I could run away for all eternity and see every wonder in the galaxy and it still wouldn’t hold as much meaning for me as the time I could have with you and what we had together. Could still have together, if you let me. I’ll never take you or the baby or any time we have left together as granted ever again. Please Rose, I am on my knees the supposed ‘all superior’ Time Lord is on its sad pathetic knees begging for forgiveness from the most perfect being in the universe.” Pleaded The Doctor to be taken back. Rose was amazed by the scene before her, but thought The Doctor was giving her too much credit.

“I’m not perfect.” Rose replied with a dismissive tone about the notion. The Doctor couldn’t believe that she would dismiss such a claim and stated,

“To me you are. I’ll never deserve you but let me try to make you happy again. I’ll spend the rest of your life trying to make you happy. I’d even walk sockless across the fields of Wilferoad Seven, which is a punishable offense for up to a week in the stockades, dressed as the equivalent of their peacocks, if it would make you happy! Or something as domestic as parent teacher conferences if you wanted.” Rose wanted to believe him, Lord how she did, but that little survivalist part of her brain was still warning that he could hurt her, and that words were words and not actions. He had through his actions over the past few days presented behavior that added in favor to his case that he meant what he said, but that survivalist part wanted more proof still. Seeing a hint of doubt in Rose’s eyes The Doctor continued, 

“Rose I’ll do anything for you to prove I’m sincere, anything!” The Doctor then took a moment to pause, understanding the gravity of what he was about to say and how there would be no turning back from it once he made the offer. It was not a light decision to make about your life, but he wanted it proven once and for all that his life belonged to Rose and that she held all the cards.

“I’ll never leave this planet again if you want….I’ll grow old and die with you if you want.” Proposed The Doctor to a now astonished Rose.

“What?! How would you even…” Asked Rose, not expecting him to make such an offer. That was the last thing she had expected him to suggest. But to The Doctor the idea made perfect sense, it would solve almost all their biological problems and possibly eliminate the biggest challenge their relationship faced. 

“This all got started over our life spans being too mismatched, I can change that. I turned human once before, I can do it again!” He said in a desperate voice. Rose was stunned into silence and this offered The Doctor encouragement over the big decision that he was suggesting.

“I’ll give up being a Time Lord! I’ll become human and live a fully human life with you again!” Rose was floored. She had not expected him to say that either. And although the idea of being able to grow old and die right along with the man she married was a tempting offer. He was essentially offering to surrender his genetic identity and commit what was basically suicide by drastically decreasing his life for her. And she could not let him do that. Maybe when she had first started out on this journey with The Doctor and she had been longing for John so much that it hurt, then she might have taken that offer, but not anymore. She understood that he was far too important to the universe to do such a thing. She had seen him save so many lives and defend the Earth from countless invaders. She couldn’t be that selfish and neither could she let The Doctor be that foolhardy. 

“You can’t do that, Doctor! You wouldn’t be you anymore. I don’t want you to do that to yourself. And even if I did, the universe needs you.” Rose said almost shouting her response. 

“I don’t know what else to do then. How can I fix this? I just want to make you happy, Rose! That is all I want. Just tell me what would make you happy and I’ll do it.” The Doctor pleaded at a loss of what was left to do. He needed her so desperately, but it had to be on her terms, not his. That was the only way.

“This isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, Doctor. If you treat me kindly and as an equal partner then I’ll do the same. That’s what friends do… I’ll give our friendship one more chance and we will see what happens from there. Then maybe one day I will forgive you.” Rose explained to The Doctor. The Doctor absorbed this information and discovered he had one more question to ask that he had been afraid to ask. Afraid that the mere mention of it would hint that he had another motive when this time he did not. If she said no it was perfectly fine, he just wanted to know if he had ruined the idea completely for her in his ignorance. But he needed to be honest and give her full disclosure if this relationship was ever going to work again. He took a deep breath.

“I’m afraid to ask. It’s just a question. We will do whatever you want… I just want to know is all…please don’t think I’m trying to make you do anything…I just want to know. Will you…would you ever travel with me again, Rose? I’ll share everything with you. No secrets. No hiding. I’ll be an open book. Or we can stay right here, whatever you want.” Asked The Doctor so afraid of her slamming the door in his face that she held on to.

Rose thought about this. What did she want? She missed life on the TARDIS. She missed the TARDIS in general. The life she had with The Doctor had been amazing, but trying at times. And she did miss being with The Doctor. But was it what she wanted. Was her heart into it? Was it worth the risk?

“This house. Will it always be there to come back to if you turn out to be insincere?” Rose asked cautiously as she gripped the door frame. The Doctor understood what she was getting at.

“Yes, it’s yours indefinitely. You aren’t stuck with me. You have options and alternatives. You will always have a way out if you want it, if it turns out you feel I’m unworthy of you and our family. I would never box you in. You deserve to chart your own path as you see fit. John and my old self, we are all in here and we only want what you want, nothing else.” Assured The Doctor. 

“You want what I want? That can’t be everything. There has got to be something you still want even if I reject you right now. What do you want, Doctor? What will you always want if I say no? What would keep you around? At the very root of it all what will you always want from me?” Inquired Rose as she looked down on the cowed figure below her that was slightly obscured by her larger belly. Like a mere mortal looking up beseechingly at a Goddess he pleaded,

“To love you. And for you to love me back the same. That’s what I would still always want from you and would keep me near. Even if you told me to go away, and I would, if you wanted me to, but if you ever needed me for anything… I would be there for you at a moment’s notice if you called. I’ll pay child support, and contribute anyway to the family that you would let me.” Rose considered this fact and reached a conclusion.

The next day at work Rose came in and went right up to Heather.

“Heather, I guess this is my two weeks’ notice. Things are working out with John David, he said he wants to take me traveling since John never got the chance to. I think the traveling would do me and the baby some good.” Explained Rose to her boss. Heather was sad to see Rose would be leaving, but happy that it looked like she would have someone to help her take care of the baby. She also appreciated the warning and that she didn’t just take off. Very responsible in her book. The two then started their work day as normal, but of course with an opening at the store posted for two weeks from now.

The Doctor secretly had been a little miffed about having to wait two more weeks to travel again, but kept quiet about it. He was fast learning that patience had its advantages. And it was what Rose wanted, and she had said that Heather had done so much for her that there was no way that she was going to leave her short staffed without notice. She also hinted a bit quietly that there was still a chance that she might need the job again someday so she didn’t want to burn bridges. That unnerved The Doctor, so two weeks later Rose had her ‘bigger on the inside’ bag packed along with some memorabilia of her life with John, mostly photos and a blue journal. Rose wanted her own space for the time being and she would be keeping her things in said different space. She was almost certain that the TARDIS would aid her with this desire. Rose could not yet stand to be in any room that the two of them had shared a bed in. A fact that had disheartened The Doctor when she told him of the new conditions of her return. Still he would respect her wishes and hope one day they might all be again in the nursery for bedtime as a happy family. 

Rose was standing in front of the TARDIS and The Doctor was nervously watching from the inside for her to step in. He didn’t want her to feel pressured so he just sat at the jump seat and waited. Rose took a deep breath and crossed the threshold while The Doctor let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Rose was back in the TARDIS of her own freewill! He felt a wave of happiness from his baby’s mind, she had missed the TARDIS too. He stood up and walked over towards Rose while she put down her bag. She then patted one of the TARDIS struts and sat down on the jump seat.

“Better with two?” Asked The Doctor cautiously. Rose nodded and amended herself,

“Better with three.” The Doctor assumed she meant the baby and smiled. Then Rose corrected herself again.

“Well actually four.” Confused, The Doctor asked what she meant by four. They certainly wouldn’t be able to have a second child, not that the idea of Rose even hinting at the suggestion of trying, didn’t fill him with hope for their future together.

“We still have to pick up, Mickey.” Answered Rose as if it were obvious. The Doctor let out a muffled groan and set the TARDIS coordinates to Mickey Smith’s bedroom. He guessed in a sense that they were picking up a second kid.

  
  


  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: I hope you enjoyed this. I felt that the Doctor and Rose were still lacking honesty and openness in their relationship and that until they addressed and came to terms with their mismatched lifespans that they could never truly be a couple. They now can start on a much healthier relationship than they were previously in. At least that is how I feel. Now back on to traveling in TIME AND SPACE with Mickey.  
> comments and Kudos welcomed.  
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


	28. Rise of the Cybermen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor, Mickey, Rose, and baby dropped into a Parallel London.

**Complications**  
  
by The Plot Thinens  
  
Chapter 28 - Rise of the Cybermen  
  
  
Life on the TARDIS was more or less back to normal…okay it as completely not back to normal, but the number of human inhabitants was back to normal. There were again two humans, in the TARDIS with The Doctor and everyone was more or less civil to each other. 

It had taken some major convincing on Rose part to get Mickey to believe that things were okay between herself and The Doctor, but eventually he was convinced to say no more on the subject. Rose was a grown woman and could make her own choices. Rose had clearly put the fear of the Lord into him on her own, and Mickey was just glad he finally would get to watch The Doctor step on eggshells for a change. Just a few days on the TARDIS observing The Doctor and Rose was enough to convince Mickey that at least The Doctor was suffering repercussions for his past behaviors. The two weren’t as close as they had been before. They both acted as if they were afraid to touch each other, though The Doctor more so than Rose. It was almost pathetic to Mickey how The Doctor would apologize every time he accidentally touched or brushed up against Rose. Mickey also observed that Rose wasn’t sleeping in any of the rooms that he had been shown when he first showed up on the TARDIS to stay. At least as far as Mickey could tell. 

Rose was actually staying in an amazing facsimile of her room back at her mother’s flat, though a bit bigger, a touch less pink, and with a far nicer bathroom. 'Staying at Mum’s' it seemed, only the TARDIS could find a way to give The Doctor what he wanted without giving him what he wanted. Mickey actually very much enjoyed being in Rose’s bedroom but for a different reason. It was because Mickey usually spotted either a jealous or pouty look on The Doctor’s face when he was permitted entrance to Rose’s quarters when The Doctor was not. Not to say that Rose didn’t spend any time with The Doctor, she just didn’t seem to need to be less than ten feet away from him all the times like before. Mickey admired what he saw as Rose’s new found independence and hoped that The Doctor would always live in fear that he was one wrong step away from Rose walking out on him again and possibly forever. Sure it was a nasty thought but that’s what The Doctor got for leaving them marooned on a space station thousands of years in the future. 

However, this morning seemed to be different as Rose had permitted The Doctor to sit on the jump-seat with her as they were both laughing over happier times in the past they had together. The Doctor was, at least seemingly to the Mickey, even more enthusiastic than normal while talking about old times with Rose. No doubt he wanted to encourage Rose to remember as many happy times together as he could and pay as much attention to him as possible. Mickey couldn’t do much less than observe Rose and the needy Doctor as they were all sitting around waiting for the TARDIS to be ready for whatever reason Mickey was still holding this lousy button on the TARDIS for.

  
“And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? The way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!” Crowed The Doctor in a voice just a bit too loud. He had kept Rose laughing for a good half hour now and he wanted to keep that smile on her face. He was focused on that task and no other. She had not been so happy that morning because she was feeling serious cramps when she first got up. 

The TARDIS had provided her with medicine, but it had taken a half hour for it to set in. This was enough time for Rose to spend bunkered behind a mug of decaf coffee at the TARDIS’ small kitchen table while glaring at The Doctor. This had of course made The Doctor very uncomfortable and had very carefully placed a plate of scones and a banana in front of her as if he were entreating the favor of a wrathful Goddess. She of course being Rose, had still said thank you, but The Doctor could have sworn he heard her mutter under her breath,  
  
‘You did this to me, bloody Time Lord.’ She of course knew saying that was a dumb cliché, but everyone she felt had to say it once in jest or otherwise. This was probably why she said it under her breath in the first place. And quite frankly, placing the blame on someone else for her pain was quite satisfying at the moment. The Doctor said nothing and ‘officially’ Rose had said nothing after the ‘thank you’, so the two ate in silence until Mickey came in and the day officially started with all hands on deck.   
  


“I thought I was going to get frazzled!” Laughed Rose back at the memory from The Doctor’s last regeneration.   
  


“Yeah. One minute she's standing there, and the next minute roar!” The Doctor giggled back.   
  


“Yeah. where was that, then? What happened?” Questioned Mickey with a pleading smile to be included.   
  


“Oh, it was on this er, this er planet thing. Asteroid. It's a long story, you had to be there. Er, what're you doing that for?” The Doctor asked slightly accusingly now that he noticed that Mickey was touching a button on his TARDIS console.   
  


“Because you told me to.” Replied Mickey, still pushing the button and very confused.   
  


“When was that?” Inquired The Doctor with a hint of worry on his voice.   
  


“About half an hour ago.” Replied Mickey matter of factly.   
  


“Er, you can let go now.” Muttered The Doctor, and Rose laughed at the Doctor’s absentmindedness and at Mickey having just stood there holding a button down for so long.  
  


“Well, how long's it been since I could've stopped?” Inquired Mickey of the Doctor. He was very annoyed at the waste of his time.  
  


“Ten minutes? Twenty? Twenty nine?” Declared The Doctor a bit sheepishly and Rose giggled some more.   
  


“You just forgot me!” Growled Mickey at The Doctor for leaving him standing there like an idiot for no reason.   
  


“No, no, no. I was just, I was, I was calibrating. I was just. No, I know exactly what I'm doing.” The Doctor defended himself rather pathetically. No sooner had he said that he knew what he was doing did the time rotor blow up loudly and brightly. Chaos ensued.   
  


“What's happened?” Screamed Rose as she climbed over to The Doctor who was gripping the badly damaged console.   
  


“The time vortex is gone. That's impossible. It's just gone. Brace yourself! We're going to crash!” Warned The Doctor. Rose dived to the floor, and tried to find some way to best protect her baby, but then she felt a pair of arms wrap tight around her and buffered her as she slid across the floor and rammed hard against one of the side railing near the console. The Doctor had taken the full force. The TARDIS then came to a sudden stop, and gas masks drop from the ceiling which might have been comical if not for the situation. The TARDIS then turned off and the room was dark and silent. Rose got up off the floor aided by the help of The Doctor. She then flinched. Her hip had been scrapped a bit when they slid across the grated floor of the TARDIS. The Doctor was at her side in an instance with his sonic pulled out.  
  
“Mickey? You all right?” Shouted The Doctor over his shoulder as he ran a scan over Rose to make sure baby and mum were okay. Mickey gruffed a noise that he was okay and The Doctor went back to work. Rose had the equivalent of a rug burn on her hip with a bruise and The Doctor quickly put the sonic setting on for tissue regeneration and in a matter of moments Rose’s tissue damage was healed.   
  


“Okay baby is fine. All healed up, good! Fantastic. Thank goodness, that could have been much worse…” Paused The Doctor as he turned to now aid the TARDIS that was still smoking, only to stand their shocked. In disbelief, he continued,   
  


“She's dead. The TARDIS is dead.” Rose had been peeved that The Doctor’s cluelessness could have resulted in much worse an outcome for their child, but the look on The Doctor’s face and those words caused her angry feelings to drop rather quickly. The TARDIS, dead? She couldn’t believe it.  
  


“You can fix it?” Asked Rose, as she followed The Doctor as he walked around the console like he was expecting to wake up from a terrible dream, because to him this was a nightmare.   
  


“There's nothing to fix. She's perished. The last TARDIS in the universe. Extinct.” Uttered The Doctor in a tone that suggested he might faint.

  
“We can get help, yeah?” Rose questioned The Doctor, she was obviously upset too by the current development and wanted to find a solution. She didn’t want to believe that the wonderful being that was the TARDIS was now dead. There was no way she could love the TARDIS as much as The Doctor, but she still loved her like family.

“Where from?” Asked The Doctor with a lost look in his eye. Rose trying to be optimistic about the situation stated,  
  


“ Well, we've landed. We've got to be somewhere.” The Doctor now snapped a bit out of it and realized that Rose did not understand the direness of the situation. Carefully so as not to flood her with too much hopelessness all at once he explained,   
  


“We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no place. The silent realm. The lost dimension.” However while The Doctor was being dramatic, Mickey had already opened the TARDIS doors to get a peek at what awaited them outside. 

“Otherwise known as London.” Smirked Mickey at The Doctor’s obviously pointless dramatic statement. The group stepped outside the TARDIS to find themselves at Lambeth Pier. It didn’t get more London than that. There was even a nice view of the water nearby. The TARDIS miraculously had landed on present day Earth on a little bit of grass that led down to a few stone stairs to the pavement.

“London, England, Earth. Hold on…” Grinned Mickey as he picked up a discarded newspaper off the ground, and continued   
  


“First of February this year not exactly far flung, is it?” The Doctor could not believe their luck of at landing back on Earth. Now he would at least not have the guilt of stranding his companions once again out of their time and space. But something didn’t feel right.  
  


“So this is London.” The Doctor asked, almost not believing Mickey’s words.   
  


“Yep. Guess we could always see if we can’t repair your ride at the shop.” Chirped Mickey as he looked over that day’s paper.   
  


“Your city.” Questioned The Doctor for affirmation.   
  


“That's the one. Course if your ride is dead for good, guess that means you better get your butt back to the old house and find a job like the rest of us.” Chuckled Mickey, as he turned to the sports page, obviously losing the TARDIS did not hold the same meaning as it did for The Doctor, and Mickey was loving the idea of The Doctor having to work an honest living. Rose on the other hand put her hand on The Doctor’s shoulder to show her support, she really wanted to deck Mickey. But The Doctor seemed too distracted by what he saw above him.  
  


“Just as we left it.” Stated The Doctor in the form of a question, as he got a growing sickening feeling in him at what he was suspecting.  
  


“Bang on.” Confirmed Mickey, still not looking up from the paper and getting slightly annoyed, how many times did he need to say, ‘Yes, it’s London.’?   
  


“And that includes the Zeppelins?” Inquired The Doctor as he looked up at the sky behind them to see massive airships passing over their heads.  
  


“What the hell?” Shouted Mickey as he watched the giant things float through the sky.  
  


“That's beautiful.” Grinned Rose, hoping they could someday get to ride one.   
  


“Okay, so it's London with a big international Zeppelin festival.” Declared Mickey, refusing to accept that anything was amiss.  
  


“This is not your world.” Announced The Doctor, having seen all he needed to be certain that they were in another dimension. Mickey now catching on asked The Doctor,   
  


“But if the date's the same, it's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins. Am I right? I'm right, aren't I?” Things were getting grimmer to The Doctor and he had no idea what the rules of this new world were. For all he knew you could get arrest for not wearing beef burgers for shoes or for having an odd haircut. Similar things had happened to him before.  
  


“Must be.” Answered The Doctor very seriously.   
  


“So, a parallel world where…” Rose started but was seemingly interrupted by Mickey shouting,  
  


“Oh, come on. You've seen it on films. Like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little bit different, like, I don't know, traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected.”   
  


“And he's still alive.” Stated Rose, as she stared at an advert for Vitex Lite, cherry flavor, starring Pete Tyler.  
  


“A parallel world and my dad's still alive.” Rose was now in a daze with tunnel vision and she walked to get closer to the ad board, oblivious to anyone else around her.   
  


“Don't look at it, Rose. Don't even think about it. This is not your world.” The Doctor scolded his bride as she put her hand up to touch the image of her father.   
  


“But he's my dad and…” Suddenly the ad started moving like a short film and she heard the voice of yet another man she thought she would never hear again speak,   
  


“Trust me on this.” The moving image of Pete said, assuring the viewer that his product was good.   
  


“Well, that's weird. But he's real.” Noted Rose at the oddness of an expensive looking moving ad on what appeared to be just an ordinary street. The image of Pete once again told them to trust him about the product and Rose laughed,   
  


“He's a success. He was always planning these daft little schemes. Health food, drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it.” Rose knew that all he needed was just a little more time and he would have been a success and here was proof. She almost wanted to phone her mother just to tell her the fact. The Doctor was now very worried for Rose, she was obviously identifying and associating herself personally with this other version of Pete. That was not a good thing, he knew Rose too well and if he didn’t stop her now her curiosity would force her to seek out her parallel father. The Doctor grabbed Rose by her shoulders and gently swung her around to look him in the eyes.  
  


“Rose, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now. Stop looking at it. Your father's dead. He died when you were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is a Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie, his own Rose. His own daughter who is someone else, but not you. You can't see him. Not ever.” Warned The Doctor as he struggled to pull Rose’s eyes away from her father’s image. Oh, Rassilon was he ever asking a lot of Rose right now. She had absolutely no obligation to trust him on anything. Not after what he did to Rose involving Reinette, but he had to try. Begging was the best he could do at this point because he was also in no real position to give her orders either, not after saying he would play by her rules. But these weren’t his rules that he was asking her to play by, they were the rules of Time and space handed down by the Time Lords. Even he the rule breaker of most rules had to obey them.  
  


“Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this. Trust me on this.” The ad Pete kept saying and The Doctor inwardly groaned,

‘You’re not helping parallel Dad-in-law!’ Rose let out a defeated sigh and a barely noticeable nod, The Doctor was probably right on his one. The Doctor could see that Rose was very upset. The last thing he thought she needed right now was to be reminded of how dead the TARDIS was, and besides if the TARDIS situation was as hopeless as it seemed to him, they might very well have to take up shop in this parallel world for… well, forever. He could only imagine how depressing and heart wrenching it would be for her. Her Father and Mother technically still being alive and together and yet she can never go to them. No, instead she’d have to spend the rest of her days in hiding being reminded at odd times by her father’s face in ads of what she couldn’t have. All the while living with an undeserving alien she had left once before. What a consolation prize that was! Rose said that she still loved him, but if she would ever love him the same he didn’t know. What if there was always a divide between them now? What about the baby? They would be all the family she had in the world and he’d all ready messed it up! He didn’t want to bring a child up in a dysfunctional family because he was an idiot and ruined any marital felicity he could have had with Rose. He wanted his child to look to her parents as a example of what a partner was suppose to be in a marriage. Cocked that up too. What would their relationship look like by the time the baby was born? That worried him. 

Another thing then started to worry him too. What if Rose decided to leave and try to get some sort of relationship with her parents? Even if all she could become was their daughter’s body double, that had to be a lot better than being anchored to an old Time Lord. Or maybe she would abide by the rules but just decide there were better prospects than him. She could leave him forever he thought as Rose sat herself down on one of the stone steps in front of the TARDIS. The Doctor let out a shutter and needing some time to compose himself for what might lie ahead, he said to Mickey,  
  
“Keep an eye on her. I’ve got stuff to sort back inside.” Mickey nodded to The Doctor half paying attention as everything was as new to him as to Rose. The Doctor watched Mickey make his way over to Rose and then went inside the dead TARDIS. The TARDIS that was priority one, he should not be upsetting himself yet, not until he knew exactly what their situation was.

Inside the TARDIS The Doctor surveyed the hopeless mess that was his TARDIS console. His frustration and anger at himself and the position he was in was only doubled by seeing Mickey walk back into his TARDIS without Rose.

“I told you to keep an eye on her.” Growled The Doctor to his companion.  
  
“She's all right.” Mickey said in his defense but The Doctor was too angry at himself and needed someone to take it out on. Shouting at Mickey like he was an idiot he said,

  
“She goes wandering off. Parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out.” Mickey was beyond peeved with The Doctor. Rose could handle herself and it wasn’t his job to watch her. Plus as usual The Doctor was so focused on himself and Rose that he didn’t stop to think that Mickey was in a very similar circumstance to Rose.

  
“Oh, so it's just Rose, then? Nothing out there to tempt me?” Shot back Mickey accusingly at The Doctor for his 3rd try at brainlessness today. The Doctor just dismissingly replied,

  
“Well, I don't know, I can't worry about everything. If I could just get this thing to…” He then kicked the console which was not a good idea. He tried not to hop up and down in pain after his foot connecting to hard with part sticking out of the console.  
  
“Did that help?” Scoffed Mickey condescendingly. The Doctor childishly huffed ‘yes’ and then Mickey trying to hold back a laugh inquired,

  
“Did that hurt?” The Doctor than sat down on the jump seat and painfully answered the affirmative before clutching his foot in pain.   
  


Rose found herself a quiet embankment to sit by on a bench to watches the Thames. She couldn’t believe that parallel worlds actually existed, but here they were. She also couldn’t believe that she would ever see her father alive again. Well it was an ad on a board, but still, he was older now, when she last saw him he had a full head of hair. She shook her head and left out an amused puff of air from her nose. Her father, her own universe’s father, had been so worried that he’d go bald, well it looked like he did have everything to worry about after all. Oh she missed her father. She wished that she could at least see her parallel Dad, even if it was from across the street. Just to see him alive and well would fill her heart with joy. She rubbed her belly and said in a whisper,

“I wish you could meet your granddad, he would have loved you.” She almost wished she had known that she was already pregnant when she had met him, just so that she could have seen his reaction to the news. She was sure he would have been thrilled, well sort of. He probably wasn’t expecting to hear that news until much further down the line. Like when she was in her late 20s early 30s.

Rose took in the scenery again. Most things around her looked the same, it was just little details that were off that she found so odd. Well besides the Zeppelin traveling above her head. There are lots of them. It was a marvel that they didn’t crash into each other, they were so close. But yeah, things were off. Just like if you went to one of those theme parks that tried to replicate a famous location. Her musing was interrupted by another zeppelin passing overhead. It barely missed the rooftop, and Rose wondered how unnerving it could be to live or work at the top of those buildings with things floating about so dependent on air currents. Then Rose's phone beeped, that surprised her and she reached into her pocket to grab her new mobile phone, a gift from The Doctor. She couldn’t help but notice that he was taking every opportunity to get bonus points with her. She slid open the phone and was greeted with a message from the Cybus Network, whatever that was.  
  
‘Welcome! Free Trial Period. She gets IE24 News.’ Her screen displayed. Well if it was offering free wifi than she wasn’t going to say no. Maybe she could use it to find out some more information about this parallel world. Suddenly the face of a man wearing the same things in his ears as she had seen her ‘father’ wearing appeared on her tiny phone’s screen. He appeared to be a newsreader.   
  


“And it's good news for Great Britain as John Lumic returns to the country of his birth. Mister Lumic, the inventor of high content metal, has denied allegations of ill health.” Chirped the newsreader on Rose’s phone.   
  


“We're all flesh and blood, but the brain is what makes us human. And my mind is more creative than ever.” Declared the image of Lumic in the newsreel. The Newsreader than went on about Cybus Industries shares doubling in price and something else but Rose didn’t catch it as a rather loud Zeppelin passed overhead. When it had finally passed there was some more news about something called Torchwood but she didn’t care. She suddenly had a new idea on what to research first on the internet.   
  
  


“We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine.” Warned The Doctor though it was a bit more like whining to Mickey’s ears. Did he always have to be so doom and gloom? Nothing really bad had happened to them yet. The situation couldn’t possibly be this dire.  
  


“But I've seen it in comics. People go hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy.” Protested Mickey as he joined The Doctor on the jumpseat to stare up at the dead TARDIS console. The Doctor had to almost roll his eyes at the naivety of Mickey’s remarks.  
  


“Not in the real world. It used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind.” Lectured The Doctor.  
  


“Then how did we get here?” Questioned Mickey, by what The Doctor said it was impossible to be where they were now. The Doctor let out a sigh and answered,  
  


“I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible. Now we're trapped... What's that?” The Doctor saw a little tiny green light beneath the grating below their feet. Mickey equally curious asked The Doctor as to what he was referring to. The Doctor was now very interested in solving this mystery.  
  


“That, there. Is that a reflection? It's a light! Is it? Is that a light? I think that's a light.” Announced The Doctor, his excitement obviously growing as he pulled back one of the grated panels that sat above the green light.

“That's all we need. We've got power! Mickey, we've got power! Ha!” Crowed The Doctor to a very excited Mickey. Perhaps they would not be stranded here after all. The Doctor jumped down into the wire mess that was below the grating to reach that green light that held all their hopes. It was indeed among the main parts of the console and power to that part of the TARDIS was the best they could ask for. The Doctor passed up odd looking parts to Mickey that he needed out of the way in order to extract what he required from the TARDIS.

  
“It's alive!” Cheered The Doctor his suspicions confirmed as he continued to dig deeper past wires and other parts. Mickey wanted to know what this light he was trying to get at was. An answer that The Doctor was more than happy to relay,

  
“It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside.”   
  
“Enough to get us home?” Entreated Mickey with so much hope on his voice.

  
“Not yet. I need to charge it up.” Explained The Doctor as he cradled the cell carefully in his hands.

  
“We could go outside and lash it up to the National Grid.” Suggested Mickey, assuming that a lot of energy would be needed to tug the TARDIS back from the land of the dead. The Doctor looked up at Mickey and smiled,

  
“Wrong sort of energy. It's got to come from our universe.”  
  
“But we don't have anything.” Moaned Mickey, but The Doctor had that covered,

  
“There's me.” Declared The Doctor as he gently blew on the power cell causing it to glow brighter as something slightly golden wafted from his breath. What he had to give would have been a great burden to a human but to a Time Lord this was not such a horrible thing. If anything it brought him ten years closer to being like Rose, he’d live a little less longer after his wife and child died. 

After he was done, The Doctor again looked up to Mickey and with the brightest smile, he grinned,

  
“I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second.” 

Meanwhile Rose was making the best use of her free wifi trial to search for Peter Tyler on the Cybus Network. If he was famous enough to have his face in an ad and own his own company, he had to have some data on him and his life online.   
  
“It's going out. Is that okay?” Questioned Mickey, still excited, but just wanting to make sure that they were in the clear.  
  


“It's on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in, oo, twenty four hours?” Beamed The Doctor as he kissed the precious little power cell that was their ticket out of this parallel universe.  
  


“So that gives us twenty four hours on a parallel world?” Mickey marveled now that being stuck here was no longer a worry. He could now free himself up to enjoy, find, and learning about the differences in this world.  
  


“Shore leave. As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem. Let's go and tell her.” Noted The Doctor as he pocketed the power cell. They then left the TARDIS in a high spirited mood to share the good news with Rose.

It didn’t take The Doctor and Mickey long to spot Rose sitting on a bench by the nearby embankment. Confidently The Doctor tossed the power cell up in the air and then caught it. He then flashed the cell in front of Rose before pocketing it again.

“There you are. You all right? No applause. I fixed it. Twenty four hours, then we're flying back to reality.” Grinned The Doctor as he sat next to his wife on the bench. However, his triumphal bragging was curtailed by the upset look he saw on Rose.

“What is it?” The Doctor asked Rose with concern, knowing whatever it was it probably was not a good thing and better she had left it alone. But still he had seen her upset enough times for one regeneration and hoped against hope that it was easily fixed. He also noticed that her free hand rested strongly on her stomach, which he knew by now was something she did for comfort and strength when she needed it. The telepathic link between the two females in his life must have increased thanks to the times when Rose was distressed. He really wished that he was that source of strength and comfort she looked for again and wondered if he could ever do enough to earn it back.   
  


“My phone connected. There's this Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me Internet access.” Rose said quietly. The Doctor immediately snapped into overprotective mode, he had a duty to keep Rose safe from any differences in the world. He also had a duty to keep this world relatively untouched by their group. It was not good to learn too much about this world because one, they were leaving it soon and two; there might be too much temptation for Rose to deal with. Rose was jeopardy friendly and curious, and she might get herself in trouble if she went looking around where she shouldn’t.  
  


“Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world.” He said sternly to Rose.  
  


“I don't exist.” Rose stated plainly to The Doctor in a voice that was trying to avoid sounding too distressed with the information she had discovered.   
  


“What do you mean?” Inquired The Doctor. That was not what he had been expecting to hear. How could a universe exist without a Rose Tyler in it? Or did something happen to her in this world? What a shame if it did.  
  


“There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie. He still married mum but they never had kids.” Rose announced with a bit of disappointment on her voice. Rose thinking about this was no good at all. ‘What was the point?’ The Doctor thought. It was like people always complaining about bad news on the telly when they could just not watch it for a bit if it bothered them so much.  
  


“Give me that phone.” Demanded The Doctor of Rose but she managed to slip it out of his grasp and in a sad voice she managed to laugh,   
  


“They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me.”  
  


  
Rose began to run a series of what ifs and cause to effects in her head. What if her being born had been what was holding them back? If she had never been born would her father have lived because he wasn’t out running an errand by himself? Would they have been successful if they didn’t have her holding them back? Well obviously they were. But no, Rose thought that she could think that way. Being born wasn’t her fault nor were the choices her parents made. Still she wanted to see if they were happy. She knew that her mother loved her and although she was a source of pain to her mother, she was also a source of great joy. From what little interaction she had with her father, Rose knew that she was definitely a joy to her father. She just needed to make sure that they weren’t too bad off missing out on her. Maybe for just a moment she could give them a little of that joy just for a few moments. And she wasn’t going to lie to herself. Seeing her parents together and happy again was something that she just had to see again too. She had to see her father again just once. She knew if she told this other Pete that she was pregnant it would not have the same effect as telling her own father that he was to be a grandfather, but at least she might be able to send something telepathically to her baby.

‘This is your grandfather, standing near us, and if he knew us he’d love you too.’ Ugh, how would she explain that to the baby’s developing mind? Rose pondered. Then she thought of her mother, maybe it was something nice she could tell her own mother. Or maybe not, knowing her husband was alive somewhere in another universe with another version of herself might not be the best of news to hear. Rose stood up and made her decision. But she saw this as a chance she would not have ever again otherwise and she had to take it. Even if it would never mean to him what it did to her.  
  
“I've got to see him.” She said simply to The Doctor. There was nothing for it. She needed to see her father one last time.  
  


“You can't.” Insisted The Doctor as he looked into the pleading and disappointed eyes of his wife. He knew something like this would happen. If time and death hadn’t kept her from seeing her father once before then nothing else would now if Rose had it her way. As much as he hated to deny Rose anything, especially right now since their relationship was still so rocky, The Doctor could not relent. This was a matter of their safety as well as the safety of this now alternate universe. He knew the rules of time and space and Rose wanted to break one beyond his ability to prevent any damage. He had bent the rules once for Rose already in matters involving her father and that had nearly gotten their world destroyed and him eaten. Well he had been eaten.  
  


“I just want to see him.” Rose pleaded again, knowing that it was no good but still not ready to accept what The Doctor said. The Doctor now lost his patience with Rose and announced in a firm voice,  
  


“I can't let you.”   
  


“You just said twenty four hours!” Rose shot back. Rose was letting her emotions cloud her judgment The Doctor thought, as Vulcan as that would sound and Rose would accuse him of, he did not see any other explanation. Trying to get her to be rational he bellowed,  
  


“You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works. Mickey, tell her.” The Doctor turned to Mickey to support him on this argument, but instead found himself facing a mutiny on both sides.   
  


“Twenty four hours, yeah?” Asked Mickey for confirmation as he got up and began to walk away from them.  
  


“Where're you going?” Demanded The Doctor who was barreled over by this behavior in both his human companions. Even his own daughter’s brain waves were siding with her mother.  
  
‘Not you too!’ The Doctor whined internally, not that he should be too surprise. He had not really gone into Time Lord Laws yet with his little girl, but he would later. Plus their little girl usually sided with Mummy anyway.   
  


“Well, I can do what I want.” Declared Mickey dismissively of The Doctor’s concerns. He was an adult and he could do whatever he wanted with or without permission from The Doctor. The Doctor watched Mickey getting further away only to his horror to see Rose even further up the street going the other way.   
  


“I've got the address and everything.” Rose stated as he held up her phone and walked away. Now desperate to regain control and to stop his companions from possibly causing harm to themselves and this world he shouted to both of them,  
  


“Stay where you are, both of you. Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!” The Doctor was getting whiplash from turning his head back and forth to keep them in sight. He turned his head to Mickey and back to Rose only to hear her now irritated voice rationalizing,  
  


“I just want to see him.” Sure that was all Rose said she wanted to do now, but The Doctor knew how jeopardy friendly Rose was. He could easily see her pushing her luck and causing problems. She might even try to talk to him.   
  


“Yeah, I've got things to see and all.” Declared Mickey matter-of-factly and clearly wanting to annoy The Doctor too.  
  


“Like what?” Howled The Doctor not seeing how there could possibly be anything out of the ordinary to interest Mickey on this alternate world. He was rather clueless when it came to the topic of Mickey Smith. Quite frankly after the time they learned about all the pickled and preserved things that Mickey ate and kept in his kitchen The Doctor had decided that the less he knew about Mickey the better.   
  


“Well, you don't know anything about me, do you? It's always about Rose. I'm just a spare part.” Scoffed Mickey at The Doctor and how little he knew about Mickey Smith. Mickey knew The Doctor better than The Doctor knew him. And Mickey knew that The Doctor’s weakness was Rose. He would follow her to hell and back over any day of the week. 

Rose didn’t like upsetting The Doctor, but this was something she had to do. Her blood was calling her to find her father. And she could not fight that call. Besides, she was sure that everything would be fine.  
  


“I'm sorry. I've got to go.” Apologized Rose as she quickly walked away from the group. And from him. The Doctor felt his breath catch in his throat and his respiratory bypass kick in.

‘Please don’t leave me alone.’ A terrified voice in The Doctor’s head begged Rose’s retreating form.

  
The Doctor was struck with terror. Her words alone terrified him. The image of her walking away and leaving him behind terrified him. He was gripped again with the fear that she would leave him forever this time. Their relationship was still on the mend and so new again. So fragile, he could effortlessly see Rose leaving him forever for this world that held the promise of the family Rose never got to have. A chance to see her father again or be with her disappointing husband? He wouldn’t blame her for picking her dad. However any interaction could be disastrous, he had to keep her from making any mistakes at least as far as parallel Time and Space travel was involved. But at the same time he could not leave Mickey either, what if he got in trouble mucking about. He almost did a comical dance shifting from one foot to the other like a squirrel that didn’t know which way to go to avoid traffic. Or a babysitter who’s charges had just run in two opposite directions. Which one to go after first? Well he knew which one he wanted to go after first? And so did Mickey.

“Go on, then. There's no choice, is there? You can only chase after one of us. It's never going to be me, is it?” Smirked Mickey, knowing The Doctor’s weakness was Rose and that he’d chase after her like a puppy any day over Mickey. The Doctor knew he was in a bind and as Mickey predicted he chose to follow after Rose.   
  


“Back here, twenty four hours!” The Time Lord helplessly ordered of Mickey as he ran after Rose before she got too far away.   
  
  


“Yeah. If I haven't found something better.” Scoffed Mickey at The Doctor and his cluelessness. He was so focused on what Rose wanted to get out of this universe that he couldn’t possibly have time to think that Mickey the Idiot might have something he’d want out of this world too.  
  
“Idiot.” Mickey shook his head at The Doctor’s retreating form and walked off to see what this world could offer him.  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s notes:
> 
> Oh Doctor, life is never easy for you, is it? Better catch up with Rose. Like. Comment. Subscribe?
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/the_plot_thinens


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